I
have been treating musicians problems for
30 years.
Career threatening conditions can result
directly from playing and indirectly from other reasons including
hypertonicity, over-use and RSI, trauma, inappropriate technique,
bad posture, and occasionally, disease processes. The vast majority
of cases that I have seen have been for muscle and joint problems
and were therefore amenable to myo-articulation ( MA ). The
application of MA can provide a much accelerated healing process.
It combines muscle stretching and softening along the entire length
of the individual muscles of the body.
Muscles,
especially the deep muscles often become 'musclebound'.
In
this ultra-tense state the muscles will ache and tire very rapidly.
They are being starved of Oxygen. The
nervous system has two ways of dealing with tense muscles. If the
muscle being irritated for whatever reason is a superficial muscle
i.e. one which is in the outer layer of muscles, then weakening and
loss of bulk will often occur. However, if the muscles in question
are the deep, supportive and postural muscles, they will tighten
and shorten in response to irritation.
The
deep muscles usually become tight when their associated joints have
been used repetitively and, or have an injured joint or joint dislacement
along the muscle's length. Every muscle in the body is in contact
with at least one joint along its length. In the case of the hand
and forearm many of the muscles must traverse multiple joints.
The article on repetitive strain injury of the forearm and hand contains a detailed analysis of this often problematic condition. You can read it by clicking here: RSI. |
