I’m having pain or stiffness when I play. What can I do to help protect myself from developing long term problems?
Pain and stiffness are a pretty complicated topic and to be truthful, there’s no quick fix or easy answer that works universally. That being said here are some general concepts that can be applied, but most likely won’t solve your problems 100% as there can be so many factors. General tips: -Keep relaxed whenever you’re not playing, and stiffen up just for the second you start to push the keys down. Once the keys are being held down, you can relax and let the weight of your arms hold the keys down. -Don’t contort your hands in weird ways to play a chord. If the chord or position is painful, modify it so you can reach it without doing damage to your hands. It’s not worth having so much damage to your hands that you can’t enjoy playing down the road. -Learn to recognize between long term pain and short term pain. Sometimes playing makes our hands and arms hurt just out of fatigue. Other times, it’s because of long term damage being done. Long term pain can feel like sharp zapping pains,
