Hi folks , a pain question :
Ive been playing almost a year and one by one my aches and pains have gone except for my left thumb. I play pipers grip and my thumb hurts a few mintes into playing . A rest for 20 seconds and I can go on. Anybody got any similar problems or hopefully solutions?
I tried regular grip yesterday and it hurt more!
Thanks in advance , Brad.
Where in the thumb, and what kind of pain? Cramps in the muscle? aching in the first joint? second joint? Sore at the base of the thumb? Does the pain go away when you stop or is it chronic?
There’s not enough info here for people to compare your experience to their own. Some possibilities are that you are gripping too tightly (“death grip”), your hand is bent back too far instead of having the wrist straight or slightly arched.
As someone who is starting to be old enough to notice pains where there were none before, I’d suggest you pay attention to pain, as your body is trying to tell you something.
Best,
Hugh
My left thumb always cramps if I try to play a tune perfectly. “Relax” is the magic word here. 
But indeed, more input is needed…
I think discomfort in the left thumb is common enough with pipers grip, Brad. I certainly experienced it, tried different positions but eventually took advantage of an injury which had me housebound for several weeks to switch to the ‘normal’ grip. Slow at first but after 2 months was well back up to speed. This is more stable and the thumb can relax, I also tend to hit the notes a bit cleaner. Main problem for me is that I liked to half hole the Cnat and slide up and down to the B and I find that much harder to control with the ‘normal’ grip. Then again cross fingering said note gives a strong tone but I still find B Cnat B passages awkward, my autopilot stills want to half hole.
That said, lots of people play with pipers grip and manage so it probably comes down to how you balance the instrument without allowing your grip to tighten at all. good luck with it.
Hi folks , thanks for the replies.
I will try to relax my grip more.
To expand on the pain : it’s an ache / strain in the lower left thumb joint where it joins the hand and about an inch into the hand too.
The pain goes as soon as I put the flute down.
Brad.
I get a pain in the same region, except that it doesn’t stop when I put the flute down. What I found worked for me was going to an orthotics store and buying a brace suggested for relief from carpal tunnel syndrome. I just tried this as an experiment and it worked. You may have a completely unrelated problem.
Hugh