Following on Jem’s advice to look all around you, heres my story - Some time ago I bought some aero bars for my road bike. They were inexpensive as I “wanted to see if I liked them.” Cycling with them was fine, but after a few months - yes it took that long - I noticed a nerve problem in my hands. It wasn’t exactly pain, but sort of was too. The main thing I noticed was that I could no longer pick flat things up with a pinching overhand grip. Like you might use to lift a sheet of plywood from it’s top edge. Just couldn’t do it. It would slip right out. There was an odd feeling sort of like pain, but not exactly. So I bought a better set of aero bars and slowly the issue went away.
The posture of my hands when on the first aero bars reminds me of my left hand when I play the flute. So I’m on the lookout for being too tense while fluting as I was when cycling. So far so good. My experience on the aero bars showed me that in my case it just takes a few degrees of bend to go from OK to not Ok.
Just coming back from the orthopedist - I have a dual spine malposition, caused by sitting in front of the desk all the day (computer science student and book keeper - great combination of diversified working positions!). He broke my neck and spine a few times (at least it felt like that!) to correct a few wedged vertebrae and I’m feeling quite well now. The hand’s nerves were and are jammed by the massive muscle hardening in my neck and that probably causes the pain. I have to get a massage and do some special gym to loose the hardening. He also advised me to put the Bb aside for a few weeks to see if the pain vanishes. He said that it is a bit big for the length of my arms and fingers (they’re rather short, spread isn’t a problem), so it also can cause additional pain…we’ll see.
If anybody wants to trade a nice Bb whistle plus some money for a Gilles Lehart Bb flute in as-new condition, send me a message, I really might look into it…