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For the past 3-4 days I've been having a mild pain on the inside of my left wrist. It started out as a weird, uncomfortable feeling, numbness is the closest accurate description I can think of, but it was very mild. It was barely there at times, so I wondered if it was my imagination, but nevertheless I decreased my practice time dramatically. The next day, the feeling was still there and started turning into pain. At most the pain would reach a 4 on a 1-10 scale and it wasn't consistent. Occasionally it would 'shoot' up my forearm to the elbow, but that's rare. So, I took a day off and didn't play at all.

I checked the symptoms for all the common pianist injuries such as tendinitis, carpal tunnel, etc. but the symptoms don't match any of them, I have no swelling or redness, my wrist is as flexible as before and there are no sensations in my fingers. Anyone have any idea what this could be? The pain isn't bad enough to go to a doctor, I would think, I forget about it most of the time, but I'm worried that if I play piano as usual I might make it worse.

If the pain is completely gone after your day off, try practicing again, but severely reduce the amount of time. Maybe only 15 minutes for the day and see how you do. If you experience no pain, then then next day add 15 minutes, but be sure to take a break in between the 2 15-min. segments.

What are you working on?

I played some scales today and it doesn't hurt to play except when I'm crossing the thumb under my hand, or my hand over the thumb.
I'm working on Turkish March by Mozart, Tarantella by Pieczonka and English Suite 1: Bourree 2 by Bach

I have been dealing with DeQuervians since last Fall. I had no swelling or redness, just started out with a pain on the top of wrist near thumb and 2nd finger. Went to a Dr. in Nov. after it got worse and learned it was indeed DeQuervians. Since then I have had 2 steroid shots, 6 therapy sessions...and it is still there. I can play, but doing low octaves hurts. I must move my body low over the keyboard. I have total flexibility of my L.hand but certain movements like reaching for a door knob cause pain.. I wear a brace most of the day and ice as well. I cannot just totally rest my LH. Am left handed by the way. I recently learned that taking the antibiotic Cipro is VERY bad for tendons. Stopped that! Had been taking it for the last 5 years off and on. I am not sold on the idea of surgery, Have to confer with a Dr. again soon.

OK, Then it's most likely due to a technical issue, possibly related to your thumb. This is something that can get particularly tense.

If you have a teacher, tell them what's going on and see if they can help or direct you to someone who can. Someone who teaches Taubman is really good.

DeQuervians IS tendonitis involving the thumb. I do not have a teacher....taught piano for 42 years. I have a degree in Piano Performance. It may also be a result of my doing barn work (shoveling, lifting) , housework, etc. I don 't understand why it would wait until now to show up if it were caused by piano playing. I just turned 80! I'm going to Boston in June for the competition. Played last week at a group and took Advil first..went OK.

That sounds awful!

Update:
My right wrist is starting to show the same symptoms even though for the past couple days I've played for 5-10 minutes at most (right hand only, since I'm resting my LH). The feeling is somewhat similar to what you feel when you hit your funny bone, but it's not painful and much milder. But this time, it's not just the wrist, but forearm too. I'll probably have to cancel my next lesson if this doesn't stop. And I'm young (didn't reach middle-age yet), so this is particularly surprising, and I've been playing for years.

@musica71 Sorry to hear about your DeQuervians, hope it gets better. Good luck in Boston!

That sounds like some sort of nerve problem..feels like going to sleep, tingling. I would get it looked at. I have found in my research of this condition that people have different (slightly different) symptoms and respond to treatments differently as well. Pregnant women and women with newborns often get DeQuervians, it is called "Mommy Thumb" and is related to the way they use their hands differently in caring for an infant. It usually goes away on it's own. I am a long time from having a newborn (they are in their 50's.). Repetitive motion is not good....a friend of mine from Julliard got it when unpacking after moving. She was able to totally rest her hand for 3 weeks and it went away. That is hard to do when life goes on.

Tingling can result from things going wrong from the shoulders on down. It's about trapped nerves.

And a sign to stop whatever one has been doing, since nerve damage is very slow to heal if it's allowed to progress futher.

I'd suggest seeing the doctor to be sure, but it sounds so similar to the tendinitis issues I've been dealing with, as a result of tight forearm muscles. Stretching and massage helps me a lot. Also, a physical therapist told me that shoulder strengthening exercises are very important too, as weak shoulders can cause you to overwork other parts of your arm to compensate.

Emeraldz..I do hope when you find out what is wrong that you will post the update. Good Luck!

I recently suffered this same "tingling" sensation in my right thumb, due to my cat accidentally biting me. It turned into a fungal infection. These are tough to get rid of. Luckily it doesn't affect my playunf, and my playing doesn't make it better or worse.

I will! And thank you!

I asked people from my church to pray for me and now the pain is gone. So I guess I won't find out what caused it, but I'm happy I can start playing piano again.

When I had a pain in my shoulder, I put off going to a doctor until I couldn't raise my arm - torn rotator cuff. Find yourself a good orthopedist. It may be that physical therapy can help - they can do wonders.