Thanks to everyone for your input and concerns.
I've scheduled the earliest appointment (next Tuesday) with my primary care physican
and will pass on the information shared by you with him.
In the meantime, I've discovered that anti-inflamatory medication (aspirin, naxopren, ibuprophen)
is recommended to reduce tendon inflamation, but unfortunately I'm concurrently just getting over
a bout of tinitus (ringing ears) of which anti-inflamatory medications exaccerbate.

Russ and Boo: Glad to hear you both are now able to play again after your hand traumas (albeit different challenges). Boo, though I currently don't (yet) suffer pain, I'll definitely bring up the cortisone treatment you recommend to my doctor.


Yep, you're probably right Tony, as he's the sz unofficial resident doctor. It will be interesting to get his take on this, though I realize he's going thru enough already recovering from his recent heart attack. Gar, I hope you're on the mend and feeling a lot better real soon.

TonyMads, thanks for sharing your story about your wife's doctor's experience and treatment for trigger finger. My fingers are crossed (ouch ) that mine is enough in the preliminary stages to prevent requiring me to undergo surgery as that would mean having to cancel all keyboard gigs for a given time post operation.


I admittedly acknowledge this and agree, as
back in college (music school), I too suffered wrist pain when playing the piano and discovered it was bad technique and ergonomics and attended a workshop to learn the Alexander Technique approach to playing the piano & singing. It helped me 'immensely' as it not only technically improved the way I played & sang (with greater ease), but resulted in a freer sound quality to my playing & singing as well. Unfortunately over the years (20+) I've become lax in keeping up with and practicing the technique so guess it's time to take a refresher course now.

The Alexander Technique and Piano Playing:



Alexander Technique Workshop with Rebecca Tuffey: