Hello All

Have you checked out any information on Body Mapping with a view to the treatment of injuries that exist among us?

Gah?

which in english translates too.......

For pianists I suppose you mean repetitive strains. For singers, nodules on vocal chords perhaps.

In these days of awareness of Health and Safety issues, we should be aware of the hazards of music.

Other than the above for pianists - we need to ensure that accidents do not happen. e.g. Keyboard lid falling on someone's hands, Grand Piano lid falling on someone's head, falling off piano stool (solo or in duet formation), etc.

I concur; and I hope to raise awareness of it through this posting.

Cheerio

*deep breath folks*
Here are some sites that give invaluable information on protecting your body so that you can prevent or treat common injuries which afflict us and cause so many suffer in silence.

Hope you find them useful.

Cheerio mates


Sports Touch Article Musicians Nightmare

Musicians and Injuries

Bodymap.org

Musician's Health

Oh, My Aching Back!

On Musicians and Injuries site I read:
EVALUATE YOUR TECHNIQUE. .... in general musicians often need to reduce force, find postures that keep joints in the middle of their range of motion, use larger muscle groups when possible, and reduce body usage that involves fixed, tensed positions.

This is great advice - look after your body and incidentally(!) be equipped to make a better sound. This site (with its list of ugly injuries you can suffer) reminds us that good technique is part of what should be taught.

Very scary reading especially as in light of the problems I've started having with my left forearm. I'm fairly sure it's been caused by practising the flute for too long at one time & not stopping when i felt the first twinges of pain (how stupid was that).
I know I should rest it but that's very difficult when you have an exam less than 3 weeks away. As I see it the options are:
Play for very short periods of time to try & keep everything going if no more than that.
Don't play at all for x number of days until it improves.
Do the exam if I can for experience of performing if nothing else. Accept that it isn't going to be the best it could be -or cancel the exam if needs be.
The worry is that playing at all may make it into a worse problem in the long run. Also I am supposed to be accompanying some exams & I can't really practise the piano either.

How about the dangers of dramming instrumentalists into tight spaces. I have been bashed from all directions by other players (mostly flutes) because of being crammed in!

Some of the information is chilling. It is almost certain to make you want to put away your instrument(s).

What I think is the solution is what people in other circles call preventative maintenance. I believe once we are aware of the risks then we can make informed choices and be guided properly in our music making.

*Here's wishing all my forum mates safe hours of music making*

I definitely think that prevention is better than cure. So 5 tips (from my teacher);

1) Play for no longer than 45 minutes - 1 hour at a time where possible
2) Stop as soon as something feels wrong
3) Try not to put your body into nasty positions where avoidable.
4) Break up playing with aural work and practise away from your instrument.
5) Play regularly for short periods of time (emphasis on the short).

It's helped me, and now I can play better because my arm doesn't ache as much.

the most important thing is to relax. tensing your body up, for instance when playing a tricky section or a loud section, will not only cause a bad sound from the instrument, but could also cause injury or stiffness. As some of us find out the hard way.

Sometimes I wonder if the compositions we struggle with were ever played as we try to believe? I wonder outside the virtuosi if the lesser mortals ever practised as hard as we do....

*I wonder as I wander out under the sky.............*