GuitaroJam Learning Centre > Musicians Health

   Musicians Health

• Guitar-Fit
• Health & Injury Discussion
• DVD's & Books
• Articles
• Musicians Health Links

Musicians have to take special care of their hands and their health so they can play their instruments. Musicians should seek medical advice from their physicians to find out what precautions should be taken. Musical ability has a profound effect on mental and physical health, and music is said to alleviate symptoms of depression

Guitar-Fit

• Guitar-Fit   *Soon to be Released*
  Powerful health secrets for musicians and guitar players! Like athletes, players of most musical instruments face at least some risk of repetitive stress injury. And like professional athletes, the answer to optimum, pain-free performance is not one particular thing, but a combination of many.
  
  This brilliant e-book draws from recognised professionals and experts in many fields, and covers a wide range of preventative and restorative approaches, some conventional medicine, and some not.  Written from a lay person's perspective it is well laid out, clear and easy-to-read, providing guitarists and musicians with the information and resources to find the perfect, most effortless, natural and graceful way to play.  Some of the many topics covered include:

  • Exercise & practice techniques
  • Injuries and medical care
  • Posture and stretching
  • Nutrition
  • Internal attention/relaxation
  • Body movement/body map
  • Chiropractic care
  • Physical therapies
  • Breathing/performance anxiety
  • Hand health

  Watch out for this soon to be released book!  Find out the particular techniques that work for you and learn how to gain amazing strength and dexterity while avoiding the notorious pain and injuries which plague many guitar players.

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Musicians Health & Injury Discussion Forums

• Guitar Principles
  Classic forum where guitar players of all styles including rock, blues, jazz, folk and classical discuss pain, injury, posture, tension, exercises, including: 

  • Sitting
  • Tension/Pain/Health
  • Exercises
  • Left Hand Fingers
  • Left Hand
  • Left Hand Thumb
  • Picking
  • Strumming
  • Right Hand Position/Fingers

• Whole Note
  Online guitar community with excellent discussion forum.  To access discussion threads about guitar-related injury, click on the "FretBuzz" tab, type the word "injury" into the search box, then click Go.

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Musicians Health DVD's and Books

If you are interested in buying musician's health material on-line, you can browse below to find a selection of books & DVD's from our associates at Amazon.com, the world's largest retail store online.  Information available from these books is essential for all musicians. String (including guitar players), keyboard, percussion, harp, brass and wind players will play better and feel better.

                                                                       
Musicians Health Articles

Browse below to read a selection of interesting and informative articles relating to musician's health and injury issues.

• Oh My Aching Back!
  Article from Victor Sazer who outlines how poor posture and seating is one of the main causes of back pain in musicians.  Understanding the anatomy of sitting is a therefore vital first step to re-evaluating sitting habits for musicians.
  
  
• Cumulative Trauma Disorders In Musicians
  Until recently very few studies or surveys were performed to elucidate the widespread nature of injuries associated with musicians. Like athletes, musicians perform for the public; and like professional athletes, they can lose their jobs if they don’t perform. But only athletes work with physicians and trainers almost daily.
  
  
• What To Do About Performance Anxiety. 
  By Barbara Conable, this excellent article defines the various feelings of performance fear, terror, dread or panic, and the effect they have on musians' performance.  She then covers techniques and remedies which musicians can implement for overcoming the anxiety.
  
  
• Ease Performance Anxiety Naturally
  Performance anxiety can range from mildly annoying to completely incapacitating. Here is a simple, yet powerful technique David Nesmith   has used in his performing and teaching to deal successfully with this reaction.
  
  
• How to Resolve Dystonias: A Movement Perspective
  By Barbara Conable.  Musicians worldwide are now getting interested in how they are moving. This is good thing, because the conditions for dystonia are too frequently put in place early in musical training by faulty instruction in which the student is made to concentrate on what is being done with little or no attention to how it is being done.
  
   
• How Body Mapping And The Alexander Technique Will Improve Your Playing.
  By David Nesmith, who writes that much of musicians' traditional music training has distracted us from movement, focusing instead on technique, musicality, and, more recently, the psychology of performing. The movement of playing is rarely taught at all, let alone with the needs of the body in mind. This article explains how the movement of playing needs to be taught directly, and musicians need to be specifically instructed on how to move freely.
  
  
• What Every Musician Needs To Know About The Body.
  By David Nesmith, who explains that movement of playing needs to be taught directly as movement, and freedom of movement needs to be taught directly. This movement is just as important as that of a dancer or athlete, though more subtle and refined. Sometimes simple attention is enough to solve problems. At other times, however, movement must be retrained.
  
  
• How To Avoid and Treat Guitar-Related Hand Injuries. 
  Hassaun Ali-Jones Bey writes that guitarists’ hand injuries are most often due to the repetitive stress of playing for hours on end without taking adequate breaks. Even though disabling pain may show up in the lower arm or hand, most injuries result from a chain of events that starts in the head.
  
  
• Does Practicing Hurt?
  Article written by Dr. Marc Darrow MD, himself an accomplished musician.  He wonders how many guitarists have altered their style of playing from five-fingered riff blazing virtuosos to simple chord strumming rhythmists because of finger, hand, wrist and elbow pain. Certainly too many. This article focuses on those guitarists whose skill and dexterity has been robbed by painful fingers, hands, wrists, and elbows.
  
  
• Rockin' Responsibly - from hearnet.com.
  After years of entertaining the baby boomer generation, rock musician Mick Fleetwood and famed drummer of Fleetwood Mac is now drumming out an important message for his fans' hearing health — how to keep rockin' responsibly. The "It's Hip to Hear" program educates baby boomers and music fans about the importance of hearing loss prevention and treatment, offering practical, everyday solutions to preserving hearing health.
  
  
• Celebrities & Musicians with Tinnitus - a fairly comprehensive list of famous people and musicians suffering from tinnitus, garnered from various discussion boards, published interviews, magazines, radio & websites.
  
  
• The Power Of Creative Limitation (A Guitarist's Hand Injury).
  An inspirational article by guitarist and musical instrument maker Paul Adams, who lost a few fingers in an accident early in his career.
  
  
• Cubital Tunnel Syndrome in Guitarists - by Timothy J. Jameson, D.C., C.C.S.P.  Cubital Tunnel Syndrome begins with pain in the elbow area, along the inner side of the forearm. The pain can travel downwards towards the pinky, and can be accompanied by tingling or numbness sensations to the pinky side of the hand. This article discusses the typical pain patterns associated with cubital tunnel syndrome, and some suggestions for remedies and management of the injury

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Musicians Health Links

Check out the links below for more information and resources about musicians' health and injury.

• H.E.A.R - hearnet.com
  Hearing Education Awareness for Rockers.  A comprehensive non-profit hearing information source for guitarists, musicians and music lovers.
  
  
• Musicians Health.com
  Musician's Health is an educational web site devoted to the understanding and the explanation of musician's injuries, along with guidelines regarding injury prevention, optimizing musical performance, and for achieving an optimum state of health.
  
  
• Musicians and Health
  A musician injuries web page by Paul Marxhausen with some excellent links and articles.

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