Finger Stretching Before Piano Practice

In the past few weeks, my right hand would become a bit sore especially at the right side of the forearm after practicing on the piano. I'm not aware of any jerky or sudden movement that trigger this soreness.

And it isn't fatigue either. It feels like a dull pain that radiates from the side of the palm near the pinky (or little) finger towards the right side of the forearm.

I tried a couple of stretching exercises that have significantly prevented the recurrence of the pain. This is in addition to the usual close-open hand stretch where one closes the hand into a fist and then slowly opens the hand until all fingers are fully stretched out.

The first stretch involves the two hands. You simply hold on to one finger at a time and then gently pull the finger outward to the opposite direction as shown by the arrow below. You could also massage the finger while pulling it.


The second stretch immediately gives me instant relief and feels good. Although I see others do this stretch with two hands (one hand stretching the other).

What I do is to simply position the fingers on the edge of a stable and sturdy table and then slowly push the hand in the direction as shown below. The stretch should be gentle with no jerky or bouncy movements. You could do this stretch with all fingers or two fingers at a time.


The nice thing about this exercises is that you could do them over at the dinner table. I usually do them while conveniently having breakfast as shown above.