But I have been dealing with some occupational injuries, so I thought I would write a couple words about that today. Remember my last post about cramming for that last-minute recital? Well, those stress-induced knots haven't dissolved themselves yet. They've pretty much stayed there, lurking and staying low-profile enough that they don't impair everyday activity, but hurting enough that I know they're there. I haven't done much besides having my brother work on them a little and icing them once.
Right before dinner today, I tripped on my purse and fell. As I fell, I felt a jerk of impact in my shoulder and knew I had aggravated the stress knots big time. Throbbing pain coursed through my upper back every time I moved my left arm in the slightest. I suffered through dinner, trying to stretch it out at intervals. No dice. Further steps needed to be taken. A massage would have been best, but no one in my family is good enough or patient enough. Sad but true. I thought about ice or a hot pad, but suddenly remembered SalonPas. It's a slightly medicated pad that sticks like a bandage and feels like IcyHot. As I sit here typing I've got a couple pads stuck on my back and it feels like a fresh shot of ice. It's got a distinctive scent; my high school piano teacher used to joke that she was wearing a new perfume whenever she used them.
I'm telling you, music is just as physical as athletics. There are soooo many injuries you can get because of practicing bad habits, whether while you're actually doing music or even when you're just doing everyday things. Like sitting. Sitting with bad posture has a huge effect on your physical health and therefore how you play your instrument.
Over the years I've struggled with wrist and arm pain, partly due to a snowboarding accident when I was fifteen, and partly because of faulty technique. I've also had pretty bad tension issues in my upper back since entering college. Some things I've tried to cure these ills include:
1. Icing: a pretty basic preventative measure that is relatively harmless to employ. I ice when I over-practice, when things feel like they might start hurting, etc. I always warm up before playing again, though.
2. SalonPas: again, a preventative measure. SalonPas is my favorite because it's easy and not messy and works really well.
3. IcyHot: not super helpful and also pretty messy and pungent. The super cooling feeling is nice though.
4. Hot pads: I don't use these very often.
5. Feldenkrais: a body-awareness method that seeks to correct your body alignment. This is one of the more helpful things I've done. I took a class that taught some basic relaxation and awareness techniques, and I found that throughout that semester I had less tension in my body and was able to play more freely. However, it's something that's pretty hard to keep up on your own, unless you're trained in it. I might look into taking some more classes.
6. Finally, the most important and helpful thing to do is to build good habits! It's also the hardest . . . Good habits including always having good posture, which is a result of knowing your best alignment and keeping everything that way, practicing healthy technique, and not playing through pain. I'm definitely working on these . . . so I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
For now . . . I'm gonna go get some more SalonPas for my shoulder, whew!
Thanks for reading.
cheers,
Serfy
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