TubeNet

I am, at my ripe old age of 20, having a problem recurr to which I am somewhat fearful as far as my tuba playing is concerned. When I was 16 through about 17 years old, I was what you would call an internet junkie (still am to this day, but no where near how I was back in those days). Unfortunately, that overusage of computers led me to a problem which many folks are probably aware of, carpal tunnel. After that, I started to slack off on the computer usage some.

However, I find myself more and more again sitting at my computer for various work such as research, studying, making plans, looking up new literature for tuba, reading new tuba techniques. Just whatever I can find. I am however starting to have that pain come back into my wrist, my right one, which is also my tuba fingering hand. Currently on my keyboard, I have a wrist rest, and also on my mouse. I am actually fearful of how much it might hurt if I didn't have these.

The worst part of this though, is when I play tuba. It's not so much a pain is it is just a lack of mobility and numbness in my wrist which goes straight down into my hand. I was wondering whether any of you valve players have had this problem while playing. I had never in a million years thought about it effecting my tuba playing, but throughout the past months, I've become much more aware of it, and I figured it was time to ask all of your wise and worthy people for your opinions.

So, with that said, anyone have any suggestions?

I also recommend you see a specialist, but I would go a little further and suggest you see one who specializes in the treatment of wrist and hand disorders--someone who has done a hand fellowship after being trained in general orthopedics (or perhaps plastic surgery). Despite the fact they are surgeons, I have not found them to be "knife-happy"--they generally want good results, whatever that requires. Hands and wrists are amazingly complicated, and this level of training is required to really diagnose and treat the problem--it could be carpal tunnel, but it could be a huge number of other things.

I had a problem with hand pain a few years back, and went to a superb hand surgeon in Appleton, Wisconsin. They diagnosed a mass within my hand, and suspected it was a fibroma. It was compressing my ulnar nerve and required surgery. While under the knife (conscious, but in la-la land), he discovered it was an ulnar artery aneurysm caused by repeated hand trauma from a job I had 30 years ago. It is extremely rare, but he had seen a half dozen of them, and he had his partner consult with him during surgery. I had an excellent result, and was playing again within 2 weeks. I can't tell you how happy I was to be getting treatment from someone who thought my situation was interesting, rather than puzzling or scary.

A good place to start looking for a hand surgeon is at http://www.assh.org/Template.cfm?Sectio ... nd_Surgeon
Your primary care physician might also be able to suggest one based on his/her experience.

You might try switching your pointing device (mouse) to a trackball. My favorite of these is the mousetrak. It ain't cheap, but is best for me ergonomically, and is durable. I got the "Personal" model - the high tech one has more programmable buttons, but for some odd reason has heavier springs and made my thumb sore at the joint with the hand. They can be found at this website:
http://www.mousetrak.com/
A temporary fix is to move the mouse to the other hand. Most will allow reversing the buttons if that's handy for you.

I echo what others have said - from experience - see a doctor.
Best of luck,
Pete

Man, you gotta take care of yourself!

I'll jump in as I have been thru a bit of this...

I used to have many tension issues causing all sorts of aches and pains... It hurt if I sat down and played for a long time and I really noticed it during performances, where I was a bit more tense naturally.

I did some studying of the Alexander Technique and that really helped me deal with it - specifically how I held the horn and my body alignment while I played it. It helped tons...

I learned that how I held the horn put my shoulders at an angle, a curve in my back and my wrist at an angle -- no wonder I was uncomfortable! --more importantly, the position of my left hand was effecting my right hand and wrist! -- I would have never noticed this had I not sought out the advice of an Alexander professional.

Find someone that will deal with you WITH your horn and examine the actual specific cause, not just treat the symptoms...

First off, examine how you play in a mirror -- look at the angle your wrist is at -- keep things natural and organic -- it is when you mess with our natural balance that things get screwed up.

As for the computer thing causing it, that is an easy one -- get a laptop and adjust your position often... if you sit at a desk for hours on end typing and clicking in the same position, its gonna hurt, our bodies arent designed to do that.


peace