Popping knuckles

Technique and methods 2 posts Started 18 Jan 2017

A pianist

10 years ago

Original post

I have recently got back in to a rigorous practice schedule and have been experiencing fatigue. This is never pain but an inability to grab large cords or the missing of notes in fast passages that entail large stretches to retain legato. Normally once I reach this point I let my hands rest and for a few days and practice with a less vigorous motion of the metacarpal phalangeal joint. After resting, my hands come back stronger and more agile than the previous week. My right hand has actually grown in size (the left has begun to do the same but at a smaller rate, I believe to due to the fact that the passages for the left hand are usually less intricate than those for the right and each individual muscle has therefore had less training.) I can physically feel more muscle in the palm of my hand than I used to. I am very pleased with the approaches I have learned hear and do not feel that my pianistic abilities will be hampered in the future in regards to technical progress because of this. My question relating to this is that I want to continue with the progress I am making physically and do not want to do anything to hamper it. During the periods of fatigue before I warm up I always run my hand under hot water and massage the joints. I have also started to pop my knuckles when I do this as my hand seems more limber after. While I am sure the hot water is fine I am not so sure about the popping of the joints on a daily basis. I know every now and then is ok but as a part of my routine of warming up I am extremely skeptical. As a kid I was told to never pop my joints but not given a reason. Do you know what the possible implications of this, if any, could be. Thanks.

Alanfraserpiano

10 years ago

Glenn Gould used hot water obsessively for all his recording sessions. I have written elsewhere that he had the right idea but there is probably a better way of getting the result. My whole approach, skeletality, aims to render the hand as limber as Gould's 'poached hands' the negative side effects. When heat relaxes the muscles it makes them hypersensitive and loose, but it also affects their functionality - they don't activate so well. Thus when you try to activate them and they respond sluggishly they can be strained. i.e. heating them makes them more vulnerable to injury. I think this is one reason Gould had many of the problems he writes about. When you pop your knuckles you actually pull the two bones of the joint slightly apart. Now there is not enough sinovial fluid in the joint to fill it - a vacuum is created and air comes in to fill it. That's what makes the popping sound. This creates a temporary relaxation but also irritates the joint, which is why they tell you not to do it. It can indeed lead to arthritis if repeated for years. I suspect that when a good Shiatsu massage therapist does the same, they do it carefully enough to avoid that irritation with its eventual negative consequences. All of the above represent to me a activation to gain all the positive benefits of these practices without any of the potential negative side affects? AFF

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