Beepster  - I had bad issues from Guitar / Piano.  I even went to a performing arts doctor in Chicago and was on heavy duty Anti-Imflammatories (NSAIDs) for a while.  This really didn't do much for me and made things worse.  NSAIDs shut down the production of bad AND good prostaglandins - they provide temporary releif but no advancement of health.  And if you practice while taking them it can make things worse.  (also, it is estimated that 15,000 to 20,000 people per year die from the them in the U.S. due to issues with Kidneys - this was documented in a Wall Street Journal article)

Enzyme Therapy has no side effects and helps promote health.  When the East German Olympic team got busted in the early 70's for taking steroids, they researched an alternate way of helping muscles recover from stress and they discovered Eznymes.  Wobenzym is fantastic - I NEVER have problems with my hands any more from guitar and have advanced my guitar skills beyond what I ever thought possible.  The performing arts doctor I saw told me to stop doing difficult things on guitar and gave me NSAIDs that were bad.  I'm glad I stumbled onto Enzymes.  Sorry to be on a soap box but It helped me so much I try to share this with anyone needing help.  Doctors are oblivious to these types of things.

The fourth finger does not have an extensor muscle. You can't develop something that isn't there. The trick is to align the BONES of the 4th finger for maximum "strenghth" to keep the joints from collapsing and using the hand's simple grasping motion and arm rotation do the the work. The grasping motion is the most natural thing that the human hand does and it really doesn't have anything to do with "strong" muscles per se.

If I had a choice between fingers that could crush walnuts and flexibility I would choose the latter.

BTW, just to be clear, my comments pertain to the mechanics of playing the piano. I'm sure that the guitar has its own unique set of challenges. Unfortunately, there isn't 300 years of musical research and literature available for that intrument, so I would imagine that there are even more conflicting opinions as to what the best biomechanics are to play it without injury.

marcus3

Let me ask this hanons are modern tech that some teachers use. Is it possible there design be more  for jazz pop etc playing?  
I'm not saying classical not complicated but classical revolves more round scales and melodic melodies.
Hanons were not invented till late 1800's close to 1900's. I don't think they were used till late 1900"s. 

No - they were developed before Jazz.  But they are good for jazz.  I did them for a while when I was working on jazz piano.  But I never got to the point where I could do them for an hour a day.  They really aren't needed.  If they cause you pain you are doing too much.  You need to back off, or stop altogether.  If you really want to do them - start with 1 minute a day only.  See if you cramp.  If not, go to 2 minutes.  Slowly slowly slowly build up. 
 
There are also some exercises that work on finger independance.  I used to do those as well, but I did too much and ended up in pain.  I should have taken those very very slowly.  That's the problem with doing these focused exercises - they are great, but we bite off more than we can chew.  We let our ego take over and we tell ourselves "I'm good, I should be able to do this..." 

That's why I provided a bunch of other alternatives too. However some folks have issues so severe that they do need the drugs just to break the pain/inflammation enough to accomplish the task at hand. I refused to take medication for years and it ended up making my condition far worse. When the doctors found out they freaked because of the amount of unnecessary suffering I had put myself through and the muscle tension throughout my body caused more injuries. I still take far less than recommended and opt for other none medicinal solutions but without the pills I'd essentially be stuck in bed all day rotting away.

Ok - Yeah I agree.  You're right - if it is severe you need to stop it dead in it's tracks.  When Steve Jobs was first diagnosed with cancer he refused for 6 or 9 months.  Although we'll never know, they may have been able to catch it in time had he not refused. 

Yeah, Jobs total screwed that one up. He supposedly got sucked in by some alt medicine quacks and paid with his life. Very sad.

jsaras


The fourth finger does not have an extensor muscle. You can't develop something that isn't there. The trick is to align the BONES of the 4th finger for maximum "strenghth" to keep the joints from collapsing and using the hand's simple grasping motion and arm rotation do the the work. The grasping motion is the most natural thing that the human hand does and it really doesn't have anything to do with "strong" muscles per se.

If I had a choice between fingers that could crush walnuts and flexibility I would choose the latter.

That's what I'm saying. The human hand is a very intricate and amazing design. You get those complimentary muscles up to task and you can do a lot more with your pinky. I know you aren't necessarily saying this yourself but when people imply that there is nothing that can be done to improve strength in their pinky because of a physiological technicality it kind of implies that trying is pointless so don't bother when in reality that limitation is a reason to focus on it even more. Know what I mean? And yes... "ungluing" the pinky from the ring finger is very important.

With the pinky it is about developing muscle independance and flexibility.  Except that there seems to be this intrinsic coupling with the ring finger.  If I try to divorce the pinky from the ring finger it seems to give me problems.
 
I do these hameron / pulloff exercises with all fingers independantly and all combinations of fingers.  The most awkward one is the combination of ring and pinky - alternating against each other.  I've gotten a lot better but it is definitely not like the other finger combinations.

Another thing that's important to work on is getting rid of parasitic movement, it's the accuracy killer.

It's kinda funny when you do the hanon or czersy (Or however the hell you spell that name lol) and watch your pinky move involuntarily and think it's something physical when it's not, and it won't go away unless you are conscious of it and practice very slowly and concentrate on not doing it.

You can see it's not physical if you lay your hand on the table, then use your other hand to lift the fingers, the pinky won't move then, it's your brain that's doing it.

I still do it if I don't concentrate, grrr.