Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Has anyone torn a ligament in their finger

Years ago I was prone, on my side, on the couch idling away the minutes remaining before the kickoff of a USA v Mexico televised match. I was messing with some reading, got distracted, and lost sight of the mission.

The instant I realized the danger, I went airborne, clearing the coffee table between the couch and tv, landing in a cat-like pose facing the tv, my focus tightly zeroed in on the “On” button. I have no idea how I managed a four foot flight with a perfect 90 degree rotation and four point landing, all from an on-the-side, semi fetal, slumberish pose. It’s just amazing what the human body can do when the stakes are so high!

The landing, unfortunately, was just short of perfect. Both knees and my left hand did their parts well. But, my right hand had one more task to complete if I was to hear the referee’s whistle. Instead of coming to rest like its colleagues, it had to immediately rebound from its landing spot and thrust forward to push the “On” button.

As it began its arc from the floor to the tv, its tip snagged in the brilliant green shag carpet. There was a loud snap as the tip folded under the rest of the advancing finger, and all my weight fell onto it. It looked quite the mutant!

But, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as missing the kickoff. And, it healed very nicely with the aid of one of those inexpensive finger splints.

So, I say it will heal in a few weeks, and will be as good as new. And, we’ll all be treated to another gem at the next ABF recital!

Wow Peyton you are very fortunate that it was not worse. My husband is 71 and is still working full-time as a house painter. That fall would have really done a number on him. Gee maybe you should have hired him. Let's see traveling expenses from Montana to Maine, hotel expenses, restaurant expenses. Gee it shouldn't be tooooo expensive!

I'll try to keep my wife from seeing this post. She would love to see me stop and go hire someone. As a painter I'm sure he would appreciate the bone headed move I made. I had a 15 foot ladder standing on a slanted roof and leaning on the sill of the next roof about 7 feet up. I climbed up above the pivot point and.... out goes the base of the ladder. I've painted my houses for years and never feared a fall.... Now I'm 65 and starting to doubt my skills. (And intelligence)

pianogrl, maybe we should start an "injured hand recital".

Peyton, I’m trying to find interesting music for RH only, but it is not looking very promising. Today I practiced my pieces RH only - this may get old in a couple weeks. As for the ladder, yes, best to hire someone. That’s what I tell my spouse but unfortunately he is stubborn and uses one despite my pleading.

Oh my, Peyton and PianogrlNW, I feel for both of you! Wishing you both speedy and full recovery.

And Quodlibet, too, so glad you are healing.

Peyton, my best wishes to you. A horrible story! Hope you feel better soon!

PianogrlNW, 6 weeks of immobilization is a long time, your finger will probably loose range of motion significantly after that and will require long PT. It might be you shouldn't have clarified that piano is a hobby.

Sorry to hear about your injuries, Peyton and Ellen, ouch! Hope you heal quickly. My daughter fractured her finger in PE several years ago, but after 4 weeks she was fine and was soon playing at her piano recital (she's much better at piano than at sports . But she was 12 at the time, so it's different with kids, I'm sure.

I have a similar injury over 15 years ago, my cousin slammed the door on my hand (I was about 10 years old) and my Right pinky was caught at the hinge. No immobilisation/ physiotherapy or anything was given nor did I visit any doctor. Right pinky does have some difficulty in playing the piano to be honest and looks hyperextended. So, I would definitely adhere to the immobilisation and be vigilant with physiotherapy.

Update for those who ever experience a hand injury. I went to a hand specialist who made a better splint than the one made at the clinic the day of the injury. It will take 3 months to heal with 9 weeks in the splint and the next 4 weeks gradually weaning off of it. My finger must be kept in splint - if it bends I'm back to Day 1 of the treatment. My hand and fingers are mobile except for the 1 end joint and I am supposed to keep that hand active except for no gripping, lifting or pulling heavy objects.

If I had not seen the hand specialist the outcome would not have been very good.

Good news - my finger should be back to normal and fully functional. I'm learning a couple of pieces for 1 hand, including a Grieg lyric piece and the Scriabin Prelude for Left Hand. Oddly enough, it works to play the piece with my right hand. I just move the piano bench over to the left end of the keyboard.

I partially tore a ligament in my right thumb right after I was hired for a performance. Just my luck. I completed rehearsals and the performance and then went in for surgery to fix it. It took a long time to heal and a lot of physical therapy. I had a bizarre "playing" splint made that held my thumb clear of the keyboard but stopped it from moving in the way it was not supposed to, but allowed me to play with nine fingers.

I still didn't go back to work (ballet accompaniment) until I could safely play with all ten!

Today (a few years later), the range of motion and dexterity is all back but if you look closely at the joint, it's bigger than the joint on the other hand. You can see a kind of lump. Plus, permanent numbness along the incision line.

Hello Ellen -- Please excuse me for reaching out personally, butI just wanted to say I was thrilled by your performance of the Scarlatti K87 on the ABF recital site. The clarity and softness of impressive. Can you tell me (besides your great technique) how you accomplished the intimate sound with your Zoom recorder? My own piano is very bright, and I'm thinking of covering it in blankets! Anyway, any tech advice you can provide would be appreciated. Again, kudos for a wonderful performance. -- Chris

Chris, I listened to your Scarlatti and thought it sounded fine. You say your Chickering is bright. I don’t think a recording can change the quality of the sound of your piano. I also use a Zoom recorder and normally have it set to auto gain-solo, but for this recording it had been turned off and sounded muted, so a kind ABF member ran my mp3 through Audacity to amplify it. With the lid all the way up, I place the recorder about 1 foot from the bump-out and a foot higher than the piano body. I don’t know about covering your piano in blankets. I think that would result in a muffled sound but no harm in experimenting.

pianogirl, glad to hear you are on on the mend.

I probably should have seen a specialist about my hands but I feel like now it's just too late. I have hardly been able to play at all since I broke my right hand and injured my left pinky. I was told to just "not use it" and keep it in a brace but it has hardly gotten better. Probably because I just can't stop using it. I still have hopes it's coming back and I'm sure it will in time, but boy do I miss the piano. This is the longest I've gone in 30 years not playing.

That sounds really tough Peyton, I'm sorry to hear that, i know it would hit me hard. I don't think it is too late to see a specialist, but the longer you leave it the longer the recovery time might be so if it was me I'd try and find some way to see a specialist. Also emphasise that this is is a significant loss for you as piano is an important hobby to you and part of who you are. Importance is often given due to the impact on quality of life of an injury, so following through with getting it properly resolved is important.

Who knows you might just now need a physio to provide you with exercises to restore movement. The sooner you start those the better. But you need to find out from professionals what you need.

I second what Kevin said. It must be tough.

Physios can do amazing things to get you back in shape again. It's well worth seeing one to see what they have to say. I was amazed by what a physio did for me, although my hand problem was not the same as yours. Even though the problem persisted, and I had pain for a long time afterwards, she got me playing the piano without any discomfort. I thought I'd never be able to play again, or at least not as well as before.

Every case is different, but physios can sometimes amaze you.

Peyton, I join Kevin and John to say it’s probably not too late to have a specialist evaluate your hands and provide some physical or occupational therapy. A friend broke both wrists and had them in a cast only 4 weeks and her hands now have issues. She was never referred to a hand specialist and wishes she had seen one at the time.

PianogrlNW, we haven't heard back from you. Has your finger healed completely, is everything ok now?

I am wearing the splint part-time during the day for another week, then only at night. I’m back to playing piano although I play tentatively with that finger. I can play racquet sports in another 6 weeks - no gripping allowed right now. I had no idea that it took this long to regrow and heal a ligament. It takes much longer than healing a broken bone. Take care of your hands, everyone!

I read many years ago that connective tissue like ligaments has a very low blood supply so repair takes a long time.

Glad to hear it is on the mend and yes take it slowly as i could imagine setting yourself back weeks would be easy to do.