For the past few weeks, my left wrist has been in a lot of pain, both when I practice and when I`m not practicing. it felt like the nerves in my wrist were causing it....I play an Inline G flute, and I put a plug in that key to see if it would help and it hasn`t...I think its gotten worse.

Yesterday, I was practicing and noticed that my left wrist and fingers feel numb almost, and now it feels like that even just from moving my fingers.

I`m a freshman studying flute performance in college, and I`m really scared that this could be carpal tunnel or something serious. Has anyone had carpal tunnel that could tell me what it would feel like if I had it? Has anyone had similar symptoms??

leah, I went through this about 15 yrs ago, was terrible and frightening and happened at a time when my professional life was really coming together.

I studied physical therapy, most notable Feldenkreis, although some use yoga or alexander technique to get better.

The problem, it turned out, was tension and poor balance, when I got all my muscles to relax I got better and can practice for hours without pain or discomfort, and the therapy doubled my breathing capacity.

good luck, email me here if you want more details or need more help

www.patrickandfriends.com

are these symptoms of carpal tunnel though? What kind of Doctor would treat it? what is treatment? Is it curable?? I`m really scared

not necessarily, I thought my prob was carpal, but it was tension and posture, which physical therapy cured, I can explain in detail sometime

I recently had a left wrist injury (dequervain tenosynovitis)that was extremely painful. It definitely made playing nearly impossible.

I was initially seen by my family doctor, then referred to a orthopedic surgeon. I had been wearing a splint and using anti-inflammatory pain analgesics (Advil), but did not get relief.

I then was given a steroid shot in the tendon (not real pleasant, but definitely worth it). I had to wear the splint for another 2 weeks to protect the tendon, but the pain was drastically decreased. After the two weeks, I only wore the splint at night.

Make sure you`re not forming a death grip when you are practicing. I used to do that a lot when I worked on complicated studies and had to be really consious of it or it will definately get painful.

Try pacing your practices. You can practice throughout the day rather than one mega-practice.

It won`t go away till you isolate the problem and fix it.

Patient (lifting arm): Doctor, it hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Don`t do that.

If your fingers are numb you definately should see a doctor.

You could try different playing positions; arms to body or hands.

Have a tech lighten the spring tension on whole flute. You will need an experienced tech to use just enough tension to work properly and evenly; while still being very light, so there is less fatigue.

If your fingers are sore at times and NOT numb, run HOT water over hands and wrist for 15-45 seconds, not hot enough to be hurt. Then do these exercises right after.
http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/ctexercise.htm

Hot water and stretching also works really good with back pain, using the shower.

I KNEW I heard about this somewhere...my friend had it during school today...

Do you have a brace or something?

I used to have alot of wrist problems until I switched my flute to a miyazawa. My problemswas sorted straight away due to the Brogger system and thumb key. it might be worth a try

Wow, I wish it were that easy for me. Just swich flutes and wala! No matter what brand of flute I play on, it is always there. Though, I don`t think that I would be ever willing to switch my flute to another brand. I love my flute!

Only your thumb and first finger would be numb with carpal tunnel, not all of them.....but check it out!!

I have had carpal tunnel and cubital tunnel (ulnar nerve compression in the elbow) syndroms and had both operated on on my right arm a few years ago

It affects all of my fingers when I play.

Hmmm... Maybe I have something different then carpal tunnel, but that is what my Doctor diagnosed me for. That is interesting. All my fingers and hands tend to get very swelled.

you can have carpal and something else...the cubital tunnel syndrome affects your pinky and half your ring finger. (it`s a different nerve)..

did you have nerve conduction studies done?