I've read that the most common cause of CTS in musicians is sustained or repetitive wrist flexion. A 1981 study showed dramatic pressure increase in the carpal tunnel as wrist flexion or extension approached 90 degrees. Full pronation also causes the flexor tendons to press against the median nerve. These are both risky for pianists. I got that info from "The Musician's Survival Manual: A Guide to Preventing and Treating Injuries in Instrumentalists" by Richard Norris, ISBN: 0-918812-74-7. This book also has an excellent bibliography and a resource guide for performing arts medicine clinics. So that would not indicate that the amount of keydip has anything to do with CTS. The important factor is keeping the wrist in a neutral position as much as possible. In fact, one of the treatment strategies is to apply a wrist splint which allows freedom of movement to the fingers but prevents extreme flexion or extension of the wrist. There may be other bad things associated with keydip. I have always thought that a lot of inertia in the keysticks(a side effect of heaving leading) must be hard on the fingers & hand. Big pianos with long keys and heavy hammers natually tend to have more leading and shallower keydip. But you can't just increase the keydip on a long key very much. So maybe the problem is not so much keydip as big concert instruments themselves. Even so, I would much rather have a nice big concert instrument to play than a crummy spinet. So I guess "you pays your money and you takes your chances." Bob Anderson Tucson, AZ
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