So I’ve played maybe 10-15 hours all told over the past two or three days, and my upper (right, in my case) hand is getting quite sore. Not a sharp, jarring pain but a dull ache.
I’m assuming this is somewhat normal and that I should probably relax it for a few days.
Or is my flute-playing career over before it began? Molloy can rest secure from competition, I suppose. . .
My guess is you’ve simply overdone it. I’m feeling the same thing these past 3 days, but mine was brought on by still trying to play the flute after spending 3 eight hour days trying to put together a wooden playground set for my son. I took a break tonight…perhaps you should do the same!
Eric
No it isn’t normal, and yes you should rest.
Flute isn’t PT, and anyone who thinks it is or believes “No pain, no gain!” is a flutist’s mantra is an idiot. It’s not supposed to hurt.
And as someone who’s been forced off the instrument through injury I can tell you it’s not much fun.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=27942
There are many sources of information on the web. This is one of them:
If you went out running 3-5 hours a day for 2 or 3 days, you’d expect to be sore. By the same token, you’ve spent that same amount of time exercising your hands–running with them, if you will–so you can expect some soreness. The strain of adopting new positions with our hands can cause some discomfort as things stretch.
In addition to rest, you might try a little massage. Bummer if you have to do it yourself, but it is possible. The discomfort is caused, in part, by fluid buildup (swelling, even if you can’t see it) and metabolic byproducts of the exertion, and inflammation around the stuff that stretched and maybe got a little torn. Massage feels good, but it also helps improve blood flow, flushes out the fluid buildup and allows fresh blood to flow in.
A bread-kneading action is good, or an action like you’re squeezing one of those sand-filled stress balls. It should feel good. In addition to that, it will help if you employ some deliberate actions to move some of that fluid buildup out. The workus of your fingers goes all the way up to your elbows, so start there, at the elbow. Go down a couple of inches (that’s exactly 6 cm, for those of you who prefer metric), get a loose circumferential grip on your forearm, and kind of squeegee up toward your elbow. You won’t be able to do the whole circumference at once, so just rotate around. You can press the tissues against the underlying bones to help.
After you’ve worked that first few inches, drop down and repeat, again going all the way back to the elbow. Think about your arm as a tube of toothpaste and the elbow as the cap. Your goal is to squeeze all the toothpaste out, but you know you can’t start at the middle of the tube because it’ll glom up. Start near the cap, get the first bit squeezed out, then go down lower, then lower, etc. When you get to your hand, things will be feeling much better already, but work all the little bits in the hands anyway. Between the bones and around the fingers.
Obviously, you have to use the other hand to do this, but avoid using the thumb, as that has probably been strained enough. Use the flats of your fingers and the heel of your hand. You can even use the big bone that goes down the underside of your forearm as a sort of squeegee blade.
You don’t need oil to do this, but it helps. Avoid hand lotions, as they will get ground into your skin and cause inflammation and itching. Avoid aromatherapy products, as they will do the same thing, only worse. Olive oil is excellent, as is almond oil . . . same things you use on your flute.
You should also ICE your hands. Not an ice pack, either. Use the drastic total immersion screaming horror method. It works better. Much better. Fill a dishpan or bucket or kitchen sink–anything large enough to accommodate your entire forearm–with ice and water. Abruptly immerse your entire forearm and hand and LEAVE IT THERE. Leave it there no matter what. Scream if you have to, but leave it there. Dipping does NOT work–you’ll be just as miserable, but without any benefit.
After a short while, you’ll feel numb and you can stop screaming. A little while later, you’ll feel toasty warm and nice. At that point, when it’s feeling really so good that you don’t want to get out, you can get out.
You should experience immediate pain relief and, if you’re lucky, it won’t come back.
If you’re going to use any commercial product, it’s this one. Everything else is nada compared to this:
It’s Weleda Arnica Massage Oil. Olive oil, arnica, and birch. www.weleda.com
Usual medical disclaimer here: Don’t do this if you shouldn’t. You know who you are, and if you don’t, don’t do this anyway.
the other option of cause is to play more instruments 
Your body is telling you something.
Let up.
You might injure yourself, as others have mentioned. Did you work up to this amount of practice slowly? That could help in the future.
I do these exercises because of some trouble with stiffness in my wrist and fore arm that develops while playing the whistle. They feel good and can’t hurt. I probably run through them twice in a 2 hour practice. I am hoping that by doing this I will prevent a problem that could keep me from practicing. http://www.mindspring.com/~shin-on/handcare.html
These aren’t for injuries though. They are to prevent injuries. If you get numbness or tingling, I would see a doctor fast.
Thanks for all the tips, folks. . . I am starting some of the stretching exercises immediately.
the drastic total immersion screaming horror method.
Peggy, couldn’t this cause frostbite?
Lesl
If I recall my progression-of-cold-trauma symptoms correctly, the warm point is
the beginning of hypothermia (but hypothermia of an isolated limb shouldn’t be
dangerous unless you’re already ill or you’re in a cold place where your body can’t
warm up properly). If the warm went numb again you’d be in frostbite territory.
'course this I never got my EMT certificate, but I did get a B in the class, so, uhm,
for what it’s worth.
Peggy-
I noticed that you also suggested the screaming etc. etc. treatment for RMI for foot tapping, but you noted there that it ought not be used by diabetics.
I have had occaisional trouble w/ carpal tunnel syndrome, both hands, and it recently got so bad that after a few minutes of flute practice my LH fingers went numb. Naturally, I have stopped practicing but I’m not happy about it. Why is there a warning against diabetics using the ice treatment? I am not asking for medical advice, and you won’t hear from my lawyer if my fingers fall off, but I would like to know. I can’t wear wrist braces during the day, and at night they are too uncomfortable to sleep in; just “taking it easy” is helping but very slowly.
Thanks
Roger
I know you are asking Peggy this question, but I think this is because diabetics can have circulatory problems, particularly involving their extremities. Cold would decrease blood circulation (just the opposite of heat which causes blood to flow more quickly to an area) and diabetics should not lower their possibly already lowered circulation to their extremities.
I hope Peggy will correct me if I’ve got this wrong.
Roger, if you are having carpal tunnel symptoms and experiencing numbness in your fingers and you are also a diabetic, I would hope that you have checked this out with your doctor that you see for your diabetes just to see if there is any special concern you should have about this.
Thanks, Cynthia
Yeah, I’m Type II/insulin dependent. I will be seeing my doc in a few weeks for a regular follow-up anyway, but I was hoping to do something in the meantime. I was just getting my embochure to the point where some of the notes sounded downright musical so it is especially frustrating to have to leave it alone.
But at least I can hang out in these forums with all you lovely people whom I would never have met had I not had the notion that a whistle might be fun to play.
Roger
I can imagine how maddening this must be. The numbness in carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by nerve damage, not by circulation problems, but best to be on the safe side since one might perhaps somehow affect the other.
The other thing is that carpal tunnel syndrome can apparently end up in the loss of use of digits if the symptoms persist—it is a progressive thing. I did some reading about it because I got some symptoms from another activity. So, it is no joke and you are right to discontinue playing, no matter how frustrating, because you could end up in really bad shape. If you do a search with “carpal tunnel flute” you may find some helpful information. There are many musicians with problems. You probably already know all this.
I’ll hope for the best for you.
… But when you do resume playing, perhaps shorter practice sessions are a good thing, too? I hardly ever play at home for more than an hour at a time (at a session, yes, MAYBE, but even at gigs you break after 45 minutes); instead, I’ll typically play for 15-20 minutes in the morning and then maybe 2 one-half-hour sets in the evening.
I think otherwise you risk getting yourself into a fatigue situation and, as I recall, that’s when injuries are most likely. Beyond that, I think if you work on a certain tune or exercise for too long, you can tend to work on it too hard and thus tighten up and hurt yourself more.
Anyway, that’s my experience. And a recent “experiment” bore it out for me yet again …
Our band was booked a grand total of 15 hours on St. Pat’s Day (gigs from 11 a.m. Thursday to 2 a.m. Friday; longest break = 1 hour – I figure we played about 10 hours overall), and while I had some pain when I woke up later Friday morning it really wasn’t so bad … I believe because I concentrated on keeping things as relaxed as possible on Thursday.
But what DID really hurt was our 3-hour gig on Saturday (followed by another 4 at a private party, but the damage was done at the first gig) – basically it turned into a ceili, playing fast and hard for about 30 very energetic young Irish dancers, all of whom wanted a turn. Those kids would not stop, so neither did we (all together now: EEJITS!).
And let me tell you: 20 some-odd times FAST thru Down The Broom/Gatehouse Maid and all those other fun fast reels will get to you after a while. On average I’d say I lost the ease and started clutching the flute after about round 7 of a tune; and it was all downhill from there.
A coupla days off with ibuprofen and everything was fine, but once again I think my theory about tension + stress + fatigue (augmented exponentially by a bunch of wildly excited Irish dancers) can = a dangerous combo was proven pretty clearly.
So good luck, thanks for the massage info, and take it easy, you mad people!!! 
Actually carpal tunnel is just inflammation of the nerve that carries sensation and movement commands to and from your thumb, index, middle, and part of your ring finger. That nerve passes through a small tunnel (called the “carpal tunnel” oddly enough) in your wrist. The treatment is pretty straightforward though, they surgically open up the tunnel, and you are good to go. However, avoiding surgery is probably a good thing, so I’d advise you to lay off the practise for at least a short while.
I’m a med student, so forgive me if my excitement over being able to combine study with pleasure got the best of me there.
My practice habit recently was to walk down to the local park and play for around an hour/hour + half fairly intensely, and then come home, do odd things, and play “casually” off and on throughout the evening. Hrrm.
The weather took a turn for the humid and nasty so playing in the park is not as much fun. Maybe that’s a good thing.
I’ve been dealing with carpal tunnel for several months. I have to limit my playing time and play with wrist braces. It’s gotten better recently after much icing, visiting a chiropractor, etc. I’m seeing a regular medical doctor this week, though, because it keeps hanging on! They say that a steroid/cortisone shot to the wrist often helps more than surgery. We’ll see…
I’ve also got to be careful about which flutes I play. I played Boehm for years with no problems. I’m not sure if the wider hole spacing on simple system flutes is an issue or not. My Copley flute is fine for my hands but my Ward Delrin E-flat has a wider space between holes 5 and 6. This causes my right ring finger to ache. So I may have to sell the Ward.
It was too much mousing/computer use that initially caused my carpal tunnel, I think. And here I am typing again…
Jeanie
LOL, Jeannie!
My right hand’s been hurting the last couple of days, and I think I have to agree with you – it’s because I’ve been posting so much! (work’s been depressing, so can you say “doing major avoidance”?)
So I’ll stop now and let other people talk for a change … but hey. Let me know if you decide you want to sell your Ward. I just wrote him about a combo D/Eb.
I’ve been doing some of those stretching exercises linked above and have gooten good results. At yesterday’s session I was able to play a fair number of tunes (Nothing like most of them - I just don;t know that many) and my wrists felt pretty good. Thanks for the suggestions!