Before you make the leap to soprano, check out the neck straps by protec and xinlink. They are more 'shoulder straps' than neck straps, and may help with the support of the horn while you're playing.
I broke my left hand a couple of years ago while moving into my new house. Fell down a flight of stairs while moving a gun safe, which dropped right onto my hand. I've since recovered and have full use of the hand, but my left pinky still has a permanent 'kink' in it right at the last knuckle. This made playing anything on the table virtually impossible for a while. Tenor was out of the question in the beginning, so I practiced on Alto. Once I got proficient there, I found that using the tenor was a bit easier than before. Continued practice has restored about 99% of my finger's ability.
It was pretty frustrating in the beginning for me, but if you keep at it you'll find that you'll adapt to playing much faster than you think. Try the shoulder type strap and try and work through the pain in very small increments. You might find that after a few weeks the pain might be completely gone.
I broke my left hand a couple of years ago while moving into my new house. Fell down a flight of stairs while moving a gun safe, which dropped right onto my hand. I've since recovered and have full use of the hand, but my left pinky still has a permanent 'kink' in it right at the last knuckle. This made playing anything on the table virtually impossible for a while. Tenor was out of the question in the beginning, so I practiced on Alto. Once I got proficient there, I found that using the tenor was a bit easier than before. Continued practice has restored about 99% of my finger's ability.
It was pretty frustrating in the beginning for me, but if you keep at it you'll find that you'll adapt to playing much faster than you think. Try the shoulder type strap and try and work through the pain in very small increments. You might find that after a few weeks the pain might be completely gone.
