Severe left wrist pain

[Mathau6]

I am a sophomore in high school who has played flute for about 10 years. I am planning on continuing into music education in college.

After a re-commitment to my musical studies about two months ago, I began taking my playing more seriously, and began practicing about an hour a day, more if I can.

However, around when I hit the one hour mark, I get a sharp pain in my left wrist. If I continue playing after I initially feel this pain, it will become more severe. When I then put my arm to my side, I feel a sharp shock down the nerve from the middle of my arm to the inside of my wrist, which then moves to my thumb, index and middle fingers and causes a tingling sensation for up to an hour after I am done playing.

I do not want to have to slow my practice because of an injury, as the next year and a half are essential to getting into a good school.

My private teacher (from whom I am considering switching soon) dismissed it as "probably growing pains" after she insisted that there were no problems with my posture.

Please help- any advice is so appreciated!

Much love!

[Phineas]

3 issues that I have experienced.

Muscle training. Yes, you may have to start doing excercises to strengthen your muscles in your wrist. Also it is always good to do stretchs before long playing periods. Even professional players have to have a rest period between heavy playing periods. Lastly, it may help for you to wear a brace on your wrist to keep it straight.

Gripping too hard. This will definitely cause issues as well.

Nutrition. For me, it was a lack water, potasium, and B6. It got to a point where I would have to take supplements before a concert/gig. Later, I just iincorporated a better diet.

Your mileage may vary. I am sure others will chime in. Also check out the Flute FAQ for more information on injuries, and links.

http://www.fluteland.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5859

Check out the Practice section, and the Flute Health section.

Good luck, and take care!

Phineas

[JButky]

Some things for you to consider (as one who occasionally suffered from wrist pain when I was doing a lot of playing.) Your wrist position can be rotated as well as the flute body.

• 1. The G# lever may be too high and can be adjusted to a more comfortable position/ angle.
  2. Your wrist position maybe rotated with you pinky away from the body too much. Rotating your hand (pinky closer to body) a bit can relieve that stress.
  3. The flute may be rolled in too much.

Let me comment a bit on that third one. When people try a flute I've been playing, they often comment that, "You roll in quite a bit." Actually I roll the body out a lot so I don't have to stretch the pinky side up and over causing stress. To them, however, it seems the headjoint is rolled in when in reality, the body is rolled out. The headjoint rotation is then in the right place for me.

The outward rotation can sometimes help with wrist strain when combined with twisting your hand so your palm faces your body more. If you combine all three of these problems, Lever too high, wrist rotated out and flute body rolled in too much, you WILL have wrist pain...

Everyone is different, But you should set your playing position first by what is comfortable for your hands and then set the rotation of the head so you can form a proper embouchure that is comfortable for your hands.

Your teacher should definitely help you with establishing a position for your personal ergonomics!

[evrmre]

And, of course, get a second opinion. Even competent flute teachers haven't seen everything, so it may be worth playing for another one just for confirmation...