Home > Hand CareHealthy Hands for Shakuhachi Players and other Musicians
This series of exercises is a gentle day-to-day program that can significantly ease the tensions and trauma arising in the hands of musicians who play regularly. They promote bloodflow and mobility and can release cronic tension and pain in muscles, tendons and joints. The exercises are designed to be used at any time of day, several times a day and can become part of your daily musical practice. My disclaimer: I am a musician and a cronic sufferer of tendonitis. I am not a doctor and I offer this program because I have found relief and healing (as have many others) and have dramatically increased my ability to engage with my instrument. Obviously there are medical conditions these exercises cannot address. Use them at your own discretion and see a doctor if pain persists. The exercises are in order.
Don't grip your instrument. Allow your fingers to lightly hold the instrument at all times, particularly when you are working on difficult passages.
Take regular breaks while practicing . Relax and stretch for at least 15 minutes per hour. This is key to healthy hands.
Be aware of your body and posture while you play. It is your instrument. How all the parts of you stack up under gravity profoundly affects your breathing and tension.
1. SHOULDER STRETCH (30 seconds)
Sit cross-legged and place your palms on the ground just behind you, fingers together pointing forwards, hands a shoulder-width apart. Gently arch your back, arms straight, allowing your chest to push out and up while your shoulders, arms and wrists feel the stretch.
2. SELF MASSAGE (one minute)
Allow your arm to relax, palm upwards on a firm surface. Using a tennis ball and your other hand, gently massage the tendons through the forearm and wrist in a circular motion along the length of the arm. Keep everthing relaxed, especially both your hands and shoulders. If necessary, turn the forearm over and massage the top of the arm too. Anywhere you have pain, the ball can gently massage. The exercise is repeated with the ball on the table and the arm/wrist moving gently, without applied pressure, over the ball.
3. FOLDING FINGERS (8 seconds each)
 Lay your forearms on the table in front of you, palms together pointing upwards. Take a pair of fingers and cross them. Hold for a few seconds, cross them the other way and hold for a few seconds. Repeat with each pair of fingers. All other fingers not being crossed should remain straight, pointing upwards and together. If this is too hard with forearms flat on the surface, you can bring your hands off the table slightly, elbows remaining, to relieve the posture. Shoulders are relaxed. Over time your mobility should improve to where you can leave your forearms on the table.
4. FOLDING PAIRS OF FINGERS
Repeat the above exercise but this time take any two pairs of fingers and cross them first one way then the other. Pairs can be adjacent or separated. Try all possible permutations, gently, shoulders relaxed. All other fingers remain straight and together.
5. FINGER SLIDES
With palms together and forearms on the table, Take each pair of fingers and cant the pair, first one way, then the other, keeping the fingers together so that one finger slides against its opposite. Do this with each finger pair. This directly addresses the individual tendons in each wrist.
 
6. FINGER STRETCH (8 seconds each)
Take your tennis ball again and whilst standing, place your hand flat on the table with your arm roughly vertical. (This angle can be relaxed if the exercise is too difficult). Place the ball under each finger in turn and feel the stretch for a few seconds. A smaller ball can be used if necessary.
7. WRIST FLEXION
Stand and place one hand flat on the table pointing away from your body. Take your other hand and place it on top, applying a little downwards holding pressure. Try to pull the bottom hand from under the top hand whilst simultaneously rotating the wrist of the bottom hand, first one way then the other (like turning a doorknob).
 
|
