[Trombone-l] Left hand pinky pain

[James L Scott]

I had some similar issues when I played a Conn 8H from the '50's with no slide lock - I would suggest trying to break the habit of using your pinky to hold the slide. Try using a trombone stand more often - set the horn down on the stand for any longer rests, and rest the bell on your leg with the slide being able to touch the floor for shorter rests.

You may have to use the pinky that way for certain occasions (a quick addition of a mute comes to mind), but if you find other ways to hold the horn and secure the slide for most of the time, that should help a lot.

Hope your hand heals soon - I've recently had some physio to deal with some left hand pain, and I sympathize with your situation. Good luck!

Jim Scott
________________________________
From: Trombone-l <trombone-l-bounces at trombonelist.org> on behalf of Jon Studer via Trombone-l <trombone-l at trombonelist.org>
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2023 7:43 PM
To: Trombone List <trombone-l at trombonelist.org>
Subject: [Trombone-l] Left hand pinky pain

[△EXTERNAL]



I spend most of day job at the computer and use lots of keyboard shortcuts that involve my pinky finger on my left hand. Over the last few weeks, I’ve started developing some pain and minor numbness in my pinky that extends into my hand.

Playing my trombone tonight I realized that the pain is also happening as I hold my horn and use my pinky to hold the slide when not locked.
I’ve noticed that I also tend to use the pinky to hold the weight of my mobile phone while using it for other than phone calls. I’m working to retrain my self on this to reduce stress on it.

I regularly use ErgoBone to hold the weight of my horn, so no pain in my hand, just my pinky at the finger knuckles.

Any suggestions on how I can head this off before it gets worse would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
-Jon

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