I'm a Flute player...and my wrist is starting to hurt...Advice?

<p>I second the suggestion of finding a good PT wherever you are; my D is at Brevard and I found someone in town for her to see twice a week while she’s there. It has made all the difference for her.</p>

<p>operahorn - please feel free to ignore me if this is too personal - but I was wondering if our insurance would cover the kinds of “preventative” PT visits that you seem to be describing. D has had PT in the past when her tendonitis flared up but I seem to recall that our coverage ended relatively quickly. Clearly, your approach would be preferable if we could make it work. (And no, I’m defiinitely not trying to hijack this into a discussion of government run health care!)</p>

<p>Our insurance does pay; I called places in Brevard to make sure. And pain isn’t considered ‘preventative’ I don’t think. On the other hand my D has had thoracic outlet surgery and scoliosis so they could probably use those Rxs.</p>

<p>The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, affiliated with Northwestern University Medical Center, has a specialty clinic in Performing arts Medicine. They pioneered in this area.</p>

<p>The link is here:
[Performing</a> Arts Medicine - Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.ric.org/conditions/pcs-specialized/PerformingArtsMedicine.aspx]Performing”>http://www.ric.org/conditions/pcs-specialized/PerformingArtsMedicine.aspx)</p>

<p>Pain is your body’s way of letting you know that something is wrong. DO NOT just learn to “cope with it” or “play through the pain”. You aren’t being a “weakling”,and have done the right thing to seek help- now, just seek it close to home. There are several good teaching hospital facilities in Iowa, so you should be able to find an orthopedist who specializes in wrists (yep, they have become that specific now!). Assuming that your flute teacher has looked at your position and technique and hasn’t found any glaring errors, an MD may order some x-rays (to rule out a simple stress fracture) or an MRI to check for ligament or tendon damage. From there, physical therapy or occupational therapy would be ordered and any specialized bracing ordered and fit. The University of Iowa has a well respected music school, so perhaps a call to their flute department might yield the name of the orthopedist they reccomend. You have greatly increased your playing time and while it’s probably nothing serious, it’s best to get your wrist looked at now, before you begin to prepare for audition season. Good luck and let us know how you are.
PS- about that offset G- it’s an option, but before you would make the switch, spend some time trying it out. D could not get used to the change of hand position with it. It turned out that her hands were just too small to play at the higher levels without having a special, adaptive joint made for her flute to compensate!</p>

<p>D had the same issue. One of her teachers had her hold the flute just slightly differently and the problem was solved. She will still have some soreness after hours of practicing, but she has found a great improvement with this adjustment.</p>

<p>I highly reccomend the Alexander Technique.</p>

<p>a good way to stop the pain is to put on sweat bands on your wrists before you play. This usually happens to flutists with small wrists, or that they do not play with their back straight.
I usually have my sweat bands on, it is to help support my wrist. Without the sweatbands, the weight of the flute gives too much pressure on the joints, and causes my muscles to ache. ^^
Good luck</p>

<p>Sweat bands offer support?</p>

<p>What do you buy them 3 sizes too small?</p>

<p>I have worn sweat bands during sports and never felt they gave me support. Maybe makes you look better or stops some sweat from getting on your hands but support?</p>

<p>^ If you buy transparent ones, does that mean you have no visible means of support? :D</p>

<p>Get thee to a sports medicine doctor, and then follow the recommendation of the physical therapist. You’ll find that many professional musicians use great sports medicine doctors to ease the their pain and mobility issues, as they are about long-term performance functionality. When my D had an issue, her flute prof sent her to the prof’s Dr., who was a renown sports medicine guy. He was the right solution, and my D has been very successful. Her prof told her of kids who ignored and played through the pain, who caused themselves permanent injury, which led at least one of them to abandon flute. Please don’t do that. Get a good Dr. and phys therapist.</p>

<p>Get a brace. You can find one at a Walmart for around $10. I had actually sprained my wrist earlier this year at my job, and practicing flute hadn’t made it any better. if you can, try to practice half the amount of time that you usually practice, and divy it up: 20 minutes practice, 20 minute break (with ice!), 20 minutes practice, etc.</p>

<p>If you feel comfortable going into your auditions with a brace, by all means, do so. I did my allstate and one of my college auditions with it on, and they were a bit sympathetic haha.</p>

<p>Has anyone realized that this post is from a year ago?</p>

<p>Oh. Oopsie daisy.</p>

My teacher has told me that if your wrist starts hurting while practicing stop stretch your wrists and if it’s really bad ice it and don’t continue practice for at least an hour

bandgal, this thread is from six years ago. The original poster is probably long gone.