[ANON POST] Injury that would make playing the violin painful/impossible that is not losing a hand

[orange_fell]

Hello little details! This is the first time I ask so I hope I am doing this right (english is not my first language so I hope I express myself correctly

Comments

[dorsetgirl]

I play violin, not very well and not very often, but speaking as someone who didn't start learning until I was in my thirties, I can tell you that for someone who is new or out of practice, just trying to twist the left arm into the right position can be very uncomfortable. It's a sufficiently unnatural position that you can't hold it for very long when you're starting. Although, I don't know, maybe people who are destined to great violinists don't have that problem.

ETA: In my experience the position puts strain on the shoulder and the wrist, at least until you get used to it.

[dorsetgirl]

My MC never was destined to be a great violinist, so I think he would have had similar troubles. I will keep in mind how shoulder and wrist might be involved in his injury, thank you!

[anonymous]

Thank you! Professionalism is not a concern in this scenario, but I read a bit about how you would have to modify a violin to be able to play it left-handed and it seems like a lot of hassle (and it might be harder to teach as well if the teacher uses a regular violin).

THanks for your input!

[slashmarks]

Okay, I don't have much to add on the 'violinist' part -- everyone else seems to have covered us. However, the seventeenth century was before antibiotics and medical sanitation practices and all those other things that make minor injuries stay minor. A crushed hand in the seventeenth century could very easily kill your character via infection; they will almost certainly end up with the hand amputated or completely unusable whether it's treated or not. Look for injuries that don't normally receive hospital care: anything that causes arthritis to develop, for instance; an injury to one finger; or nerve damage to the elbow or wrist that caused permanent pain in fingertips -- pressing your fingers against the metal strings constantly develops calluses pretty fast, and if your fingertips were pain sensitive it would very possibly be intolerable.

[aprecioustime]

That was my thought, too - you really don't want to have an injury that's too serious because they'd end up with more problems than just difficulty playing the violin.

As a violinist, I agree with the people above re: tendon/ligament injuries or arthritis, because they're invisible and nothing that would invite infection. I second the idea of something simple like an injury to the tips of the fingers that would make it hard to press the string down. When I was a teenager I cut my hand, almost slicing the tip of one finger off (and bandaged it tightly and still played in a competition two days later, because I was a teenager and thus insane) and the injury and later scar tissue made it difficult and quite painful to play for a while. If your character had a burn or something else that caused significant scarring/loss of feeling in the fingers I imagine that would also make it more difficult.

[slashmarks]

Ah, I didn't think of a burn before! I will look into this as well and see if it can work for my purposes, thanks for your suggestion.

[slashmarks]

Thank you! Medicine plays a big part in this story, so I'm aware of the limitations I have within my settings. I researched what happens when fractures are untreated and it seemed that as long as the damage stays internal, there is an okay chance of the injury not causing systemic trouble.

It's kind of a thing with this character, too, to be unlucky enough to get serious diseases or injured but lucky enough to survive it.

I will be cautious about this and see if I can find a lesser injury that can save the same purpose as what I had in mind (painful, crippling, kind of nasty, ideally visible but not too life threatening). It might be a theme with the character but that won't keep it from seeming unrealistic if exploited too much.

[anonymous]

A friend of mine used to play the upright bass, and developed bone spurs in her left wrist that grew up into the back of her hand because of the repetitive stress. Playing became so painful she had to give it up. Surgery was an option, but the doctors told her that they would keep coming back, so having the surgery sooner would mean having more surgeries over the course of her life, and by giving up the bass she could slow down the growth.

She made it to her mid-thirties before having the surgery. The bone spurs were visible lumps, she could no longer perform ordinary tasks and was in constant pain. It looked a little like Wolverine's claws were about to come out from the back of her hand.