Mark, these are for protecting the fingers from abrasion, and they're not at all useful for piano or guitar players. About 5 years ago my fingertips were raw and bleeding, the pain was awful, and that's what one of the 14 doctors I went to told me to use.

It turned out that the root cause of my problem was a deficiency of vitamin D. My D level was only 10 and should have been 50. I began taking 5,000 USP per day and within three weeks my hands and fingertips were completely healed. I've been taking it ever since to maintain a level of 50 and the problem has never returned.

One of the things I discovered is that as we age, we loose the ability to absorb vitamin D through sunlight. I get lots more exposure to the sun than most folks, mowing the lawn and sailing on Chesapeake Bay, but even with all that exposure I was not absorbing much of the needed vitamin. Of course, I use sun block to prevent skin cancer while sailing and working outdoors, and when the weather gets cold, most of us wear long sleeved shirts, long pants and coats, which also blocks the sun.

Just something to consider,

Gary