I've been playing violin with a dislocated thumb for over 5 years.

Back in May 2015, I was in the pit band in a production of Les Mis. I was the only violinist so tasked with playing loud, and because it was out of town, the band showed up on Sunday and rehearsed all day every day until Thursday when we started doing the show. Standard stuff, except a 3.5 hour show and double cast so at least 7 hours of playing per day. On one of the last days going into about hour 6 or so, I feel my wrist snap and go numb. Something was terribly wrong, but I had to just plow throw it. Don't do that.

When I make it back home, I book a physio appointment and eventually we figure out that due to excessive pronation and a tense bow hold, I had dislocated a bone in my wrist (lunate or capitate, can't remember.) My therapist reset the bone, and it would eventually regain its range of motion, although was always very stiff. We just placed the stiffness and slight discomfort at the extremes of range to its freshness and that it would go away. During this time I would try playing again, but usually dislocate it again because I couldn't correct my bad habits. Eventually some more teachers helped me realize some of these inefficiencies and showed me how to bow with less arm pronation. This worked and greatly lengthened the stretches I could play without dislocating again, then I'd have to book physio and get it relocated until I figured out how to do it myself. I've literally dislocated and re-placed the bone over a dozen times.

Since then, I have had successes still, struggling uphill against a stiff hand and reduced strength but still able to fake my way through my work and studies. I began a master's degree and while I've made a lot of progress, I came to terms that because of my limitations from my injury, this might be my last hurrah as after school it would be impossible to stay competitive. I still couldn't stretch my wrist without extreme soreness or discomfort, couldn't stretch my thumb down to my wrist, couldn't whisk or shake my hand, and didn't have the strength to place weight on it like in a pushup. This made playing at the tip, playing chords (especially up bow), and really fast whippy playing very uncomfortable and sore. It's been really sad watching myself barely grip onto the music I already know, and incapable of really learning anything new.

Violin aside, my mentors mentioned that my hand shouldn't be so stiff and that I should have done strengthening, and it didn't sit right that I should be afraid of falling on my wrist at 27. With the resolve that violin be damned I should get as strong as before, a few days ago I started stretching and massaging my wrist and hand. While rubbing my thumb muscle, I feel a pop/click and all the places I felt my stretches bottoming out before were suddenly cooling and tingling. Immediately I can shake, whisk, stretch, and now play music freely. All of the discomfort that I was imagining was ruined/scar tissue, cysts, or whatever is just almost entirely gone, save a few spots where it's still residually sore and getting better by the hour.

I have been playing violin (and other instruments) with a dislocated thumb for over five years. I still am having difficulty processing this, and it's surreal to have my hand back to how it was so long ago.

Thanks for reading. Never give up.