music related injuries

MahlerSnob
Tue, 19 Jun 2007 22:35:02 +0000

My girlfriend is a pianist at NEC and has this to contribute:
"I have had experience with injuries since I was diagnosed at the age of eight with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (a very common injury in violinists and other musiciacns) I have had more than ten years dealing with other injuries as well, including tendonitis. Although for me TOS is semi-permanent it is aggravated and brought on by the fact that I play piano at a professional level. For someone with tendonitis I reccomend basic Rest and Relaxation. 99 percent of the time tendonitis never gets better because the patient never really takes a break from ALL of the aggravating activities. This past september I was diagnosed with Tennis elbow (tendonitis in the elbow) I stopped playing piano for months, wore an arm brace, went to physical therapy up to three times a week, took private feldenkrais lessons and pilates. All of these things have helped A LOT! (I have cured my elbow tendonitis, but still have problems with TOS) especially feldenkrais: I reccomend it for any musician, it is a technique which teaches you how to move your body in a natural way which, over the years, we naturally deviate from because of bad posture, overuse etc. (it’s very relaxing)

my last piece of advice to any musician with injury problems is: don’t just settle on one doctor’s opinion and try to find doctors who have “musician clinics”
a lot of doctors mis-diagnose musician injuries because they don’t fully understand the stress a musician’s body goes through daily. I saw one neurologist (not at a musicians clinic) who told me that I would never play again and that I should get surgery now or else, but I have also been seeing a neurologist in boston who holds a musician’s clinic every saturday JUST for musicians and he has helped me so much! No thanks to the other doctor I saw, I am gradually beginning to practice again doctor’s who have musician clinics have more experience with the variety of injuries that we get. If anyone needs reccomendations for doctors in boston I would be glad to provide more information."

I would only add this to what she said: take the time to fix these problems NOW, while you’re young and have the time. Six months might seem like a long time to deal with an injury, but it really isn’t in the grand scheme of things. It’s also a hell of a lot better than never being able to play again.