Musicians Are Athletes Too

Practice Hard and Stay Healthy

Musicians are athletes too! Just like world-class golf pros, swimmers or football players, dedicated musicians spend years training, creating knots in their muscles. Practicing hours a week, honing their technique, and so their skills are sharp and their focus is tight. And, just like athletes, musicians can get injured doing what they love.

For many musicians, physical problems come in the form of repetitive stress injuries (RSIs). Resulting from improper technique, over-exertion, or just over use. RSIs can often start as a stray ache or pain in the arms – neck, shoulders, upper back, shoulder blades, and down to the fingers.

Pay attention to your body. If you feel fatigued or in pain, is best treated
with self-discipline of taking a break.  If you start feeling weakness, heaviness,
pain, or fatigue, take a real break. Stop, step away from your instrument, and do something different. 

Simply rescheduling your practice hours can make a difference. Instead of playing for one hour, taking a break, and then return later to play for a few hours. Play two hours in the morning and only an hour in the evening. Even a small change like that can reduce the stress on your arms and hands.

Take a lesson. Even if you’re a completely self-taught musician, if you
start feeling symptoms of overuse, consider investing in a lesson or two with
an experienced, trained teacher.

There are often technical things that you can do to alleviate strain. A good teacher can look at how you’re playing and tell you to prop your instrument a little differently, to untwist your hand a bit, or to wear your shoulder strap at a different angle.

Streamline your computer setup. What you do on your computer keyboard can have a significant effect on how effortlessly you play your instrument. A laptop is ergonomically one of the worst physical arrangements for the hands. It’s better to think of the computer and the piano as the same setup. You want the keyboard in a comfortable position in front of you with the screen directly in front of your eyes.

Treat yourself like an athlete. Just like athletes; musicians use their bodies for their livelihood. Just as a football player uses weights and stretches to be top notch in his game, musicians can fine tune their music abilities. 

A musician also needs to look at things like alignment and posture, and what sort of training can be done to help alleviate the problem. Also, just as athletes do, make sure to warm up before you play, stretch before and after, and apply ice to a tender area after use, if it’s feeling achy or overused.

Exercise away from your instrument. Keeping your entire body strong and flexible can go a long way towards healthy playing.  Even walking briskly – with good posture, and not slouching – can be great. Using an elliptical machine, swimming, jogging, and biking are good, too. You want to work up a sweat and use your muscles, but not in the fine-tuning way that you use them when you play an instrument.

In general pay attention to the entire body, rather than just the part that’s giving you trouble. Proper posture, alignment, and flexibility ensure that you’ll be able to play music for decades.   The more strength and flexibility you have in your muscles, the more effectively and easily you’ll be able to play.