How Can I Get Rid of the Pain in My Hand?

As mentioned in my last few blogs, I’ve been practicing Koto (a traditional Japanese instrument) for months. I know myself well enough to realize that once I start practicing, I can’t stop. I don’t know when to stop because it’s fun to play.

That’s when all the pressure of playing affects my arm. It’s like a pitcher in baseball. He uses only one arm and practices everyday. You can imagine how much pressure the arm has to deal with from one pitch, two pitches, ten pitches, a hundred pitches…. If you are too lazy to release the stress of the arm right away, it stays and becomes pain. Yup, that’s me. I could feel that the muscles of my arm were exhausted, and sometimes I couldn’t even lift my arm up.

After the performance I did last month, I had an uncomfortable experience with my fourth and pinky fingers. For Koto, you use the other three: thumb, index finger, and middle finger. So, I wondered, why do those two fingers feel so strange? It was very, very uncomfortable not being able to feel anything but pain in those two fingers – and even acupuncture couldn’t help completely.

Because I had been going through a lot of stress mentally and physically, I finally went to a yoga class. I felt optimistic that Yoga might help me release that icky feeling in my two fingers.

As I was doing downward facing dog during class, I suddenly felt – oh boy…those two fingers were on FIRE!!! It was so painful but, at the same time, I could feel that muscles of those fingers being stretched out nicely. So I kept stretching those fingers while doing the pose. Even after moving to a child pose, I felt like my heart was split into those two fingers. I couldn’t move them because they were so painful – and yet it was a good type of pain.

After a while – yes! – there was no more pain or icky feeling.

Overall, I believe it happened because I don’t use those two fingers at all since I play Koto with the other three. So, the two fingers just stiffened up…a lot.

Christina sometimes mentions that people usually try not to move the place where it hurts simply because it hurts! But we actually have to do the opposite. If it hurts, you have to stretch the muscle of that area to remove the pain. I totally agree with her.

And, based on my experience with my two painful fingers, I can confirm that it’s true.

Koto Performance and Yoga:

• How Old Am I?
• How Can I Get Rid of the Pain in My Hand? 
• Why Was I So Busy??

[tags]pain, koto practice, icky feeling, yoga for injuries, stretching, downward facing dog, child pose[/tags]