A+Musician's+Health

**A Musician’s Health**
By Tina Adams

Every musician is just as human as the next and need to take care of themselves when playing an instrument. Just as an instrument should be kept in tune in order for its wellbeing, the musician should keep their body “in tune” as well. Just as a piano needs water to keep the inside from drying out, the musician should stay hydrated during practiced; and just as violinist should put rosin on their bow for it to play right, they should put on an awareness of how they play in order to prevent an injury and to play right as well. We and our instruments have a commonality in the sense of wellbeing and care, and we should take the time to learn how this can be done. Sadly, and this includes me, we musicians oftentimes know more about how to take care of our beloved instruments than about us who play them. We love the music our instruments bring forth when we play them, but to prevent that or possibly even ending it altogether by an injury caused could be heartbreaking. So without further ado, let's learn about just a few of the ways we cancause ourselves injuries, how to prevent them, and overall how to keep ourselves "well tuned". In order to move a body part, a muscle must contract. During the playing of an instrument we oftentimes move a part of our body in two directions at once (i.e. – doing an octave on the piano); in order for that to be possible, we need to have more than one muscle contracting at the same time. When a muscle is contracting, the opposite muscle must relax and make room. If the opposite muscle does not relax but is contracting as well, then both muscles being contracted would be called “co-contraction”. This can be dangerous because that’d mean both muscles are tense and can cause injury to the body part. Just as a runner must do stretches in order to keep themselves from injury during the run, we should do stretches before playing. Scales, arpeggios and other exercises should be played some before practice to get our fingers limber. I play those and also try to play the guitar some (to build strength in the left hand) before I practice piano; thus could be done by many of you out there for stretches before practice. What if you’re in a painful position? Meaning, your fingers seem splayed across your instrument’s keyboard or fingerboard. Maybe you’ve never done that position before and your hand starts hurting. Do you keep on doing it? Maybe you think to yourself: “I’ve got to keep doing it, even if it hurts, because I need to learn the position for a song”. That’s not good! Connected to your fingers are what’re called tendons, they are valuable in being able to move. When holding a strenuous position, you stretch those tendons, and some cross other tendons while doing so. Have you ever pulled on a rubber band until it was stretched out? Think of it that way on your tendons. Also, have you ever played something easy and wanted to keep going faster and faster at it? I do this all the time on the piano, finding it exhilarating. If warning signs of pain tell you to stop, though, listen to them! I was playing a bit of “Invention 1” by Bach on the keyboard and kept going faster and faster; I started feeling an uncomfortable feeling in my hand, telling me to stop, but I didn’t listen. Suddenly a sharp pain hit me in my right hand and I stopped right then and there. I couldn’t play for the rest of the day, a few of my hand’s tendons were hurting. Stretching them these ways can cause conditions serious such as “tendonitis”. Tendonitis is the inflammation of the tendons, and this can be cured if you develop another method of playing. So when playing something painful, try changing your position into something easier. Now what to do in order to prevent many injuries or illnesses? I’ve already named a few: stretches before practice, changing methods of playing. If an injury occurs, there’s a really good chance you need to change your methods of playing. Some may think that it is not needed, that something else can be done, but changing your method of playing is a sure fire way in order to be on the road to recovery. Many injuries happen because of the way we play; somewhere in our method there may be a flaw. It would be best to go to a professional musician whose had years of playing and knowledge under their belt and to seek counsel on how to change our method. They can catch the flaw of your method and help you fix it, helping you heal. Not injured but fear that there is a flaw? If warning signs (pain, uncomfortable feeling, etc.) show up or maybe you feel that there is a flaw anyhow, go to someone who can help you. We should keep ourselves energized! I’m going to name a few of the many things that we need to heed when being a musician and the first one will be getting enough rest. Are you a night owl? Do you like staying way up in the night but have to get up early in the morning for school? Or what if you go to bed at a decent hour but just can’t get to sleep? Never fear! There are ways to fix this. Now first off, if you are a night owl who just loves to stay up late at night but have to get up early for school and feel exhausted throughout the day, you should change this. As my doctor would say, lack of sleep can be “taxing”. What is lack of sleep taking away from you? Are your grades not as good as they can be or that you want them to be? Do you want to fall asleep during school or church? Is it hard to concentrate on something? Lack of sleep can affect us in many ways such as it will (and yes, I said “will”) in music. Need of sleep can and usually will take all desire to play away from you, wanting only to sleep. Try going to bed earlier than you usually do. I have been told that the average teenager should sleep at least eight hours every night. At first I thought that it sounded like a lot, but it isn’t really, when compared to a full twenty-four hour day. There’s also the problem of not being able to get to sleep once in bed. There’s actually a name for this and it’s been classified as a medical condition: “insomnia”. Heard of it? Now you may not actually have insomnia, but just plain not being able to sleep can be just as bad. There are things that can prevent us from simply falling asleep such as watching a crazy movie, caffeine, etc. Watching T.V. or movies can get your mind racing and keep you up. Caffeine will give you energy, not something you want before bed. The key to falling asleep is the need for it. Relax, take a hot shower before bed, and maybe lie awake for a few minutes before turning out the lights and just rest. These and more will help you fall asleep. How about a healthy diet? Just as a gymnast needs to do to keep themselves limber by eating right, you need to eat right too. Ever heard that carrots are good for your eyesight? Well, they are and that’s useful for when reading music! How about foods containing soy are good for your brain? That’s true, too! A good diet will keep you energized. A balance of proteins, vitamins, calcium, wholegrain, etc. is needed when being a musician. During practice, you can lose a lot of energy and need to replenish it. Eat a healthy snack, drink some more water. It would be very good if you were to even keep a bottle of water near you when you play for constant re-hydrating. There are many more things to beware of as a musician, and many more ways of taking care of ourselves as well, and I listed only a few. Here are some sites I used to gather some of the information, but try to take time to do your own research and see what you might find. Share the information you find with us!

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