Topic: HRT effects on hands of musicians

[Bibi]

I posted this over on the HRT board but forgot to post it here: Musicians, at any point in your transition, have the changes affected your playing because your hands shrank, lips changed, you maybe added dexterity and small muscle control from becoming more of a woman??

[Doreen]

I posted this over on the HRT board but forgot to post it here: Musicians, at any point in your transition, have the changes affected your playing because your hands shrank, lips changed, you maybe added dexterity and small muscle control from becoming more of a woman??

The bone structure in the fingers won't change, neither will their length.  If you have lip augmentation / plumping that will change your ability to play instruments.  IF you have any kind of surgery in the jaw, you risk numbness and thus increased difficulty controlling the embouchure.   If you're a professional musician, don't count on HRT helping you overall.  That being said, psychosomatic  (placebo) effects can still help.  If you think it helps you , it can help you  

If you have osteopenia/porosis, that will diminish the overall structure of the bone, but that's going to affect your hips, back, etc long before it has a noticeable impact on your fingers.  You might break them more frequently which will certainly hamper your musical performances. 

[Bibi]

I ask because I am a keyboard player and a couple of girls noted that their fingers did decrease in size ,not length, and it did impact playing - they said it required more hand movement now. YMMV, of course.

[Doreen]

I ask because I am a keyboard player and a couple of girls noted that their fingers did decrease in size ,not length, and it did impact playing - they said it required more hand movement now. YMMV, of course.

I guess it depends on the person.. maybe lol.  I'd love to see accurate before/after hrt pics of their hand size to verify (or at least a measurement).  Now there is a task, find 5 m2f pre hrt and size up their hands, then 1 year later, 2 years later... or if you could an even larger sampling group including people not on HRT.

I do know my wrists actually diminished in size, not exactly sure why.  My fingers?  meh.  Then again I'm not a terribly accurate person to compare to anyways.  My hormones were always screwed up.

[CynthiaAnn]

This is an interesting topic to find. I've been using HRT since 7/2011, and my guitars feel the same to me. I don't think my hands have gotten any smaller, however I think my hands may have lost a little strength overall. I can still reach all the nice high notes on a 5 string as before......

Cynthia -