"You gotta be cool, relax..."

Something musicians need to keep in mind is that just because you play for so long, it doesn’t mean you’re destined to develop tendonitis. I always assumed there was nothing I could do to prevent developing carpal tunnel syndrome, but there really are some easy methods to keeping your hands and wrists protected.

[Warming up for just a few minutes can make a world of difference down the road.]

The first thing to keep in mind is to warm up before you play. Just like an athlete would stretch his muscles and warm up to prepare his body for a work out, musicians should stretch their tendons and muscles before playing. All you need is a simple stress ball to squeeze, or to knead some silly putty. Practicing this for ten minutes or so every day can help build and maintain muscle strength for playing music.¹

In an article on VoyageRecords.com, Phil and Vision Williams suggest this simple exercise for keeping your hands relaxed and ready to play:

“Grab a condensed soup can with your fingers, with the back of your hand up, and raise and lower it about 20 times a day using only your wrist. Do arm strengthening weight lifting with fairly light weights….Just a few repeats of these exercises each day gradually builds the muscles and helps prevent playing problems.”

The Williams’ warn against doing too many repetitions of the exercise, as it can lead to the exact pains you are trying to prevent.


Another way to help prevent (or ease) tendonitis is to simply stretch your fingers out from your hand.¹ The repetition of stretching and relaxing your hand, fingers, arms, and shoulders, is something you can do throughout the day (and you probably already do, without realizing it) and it helps keep your muscles relaxed.

Don't forget to take breaks while playing. This is something I can personally attest to, because after sitting at a piano for an hour or more, I can definitely feel the strain on my fingers, wrists, neck, shoulders…my entire upper body, really. Taking a short (5-10 minute) break every now and then can really help ease the stress of playing for hours on end. It sounds so simple that it shouldn’t even be worth mentioning, but anyone who’s ever gotten lost in their music could tell you that sometimes, stopping just isn’t an option.

[Caitlin's wrists have paid the price of long hours of playing.]

*Queen - "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"