I went to the SAU Parent/Teacher convention last Saturday. It was so great! Today I want to tell you about the "Musicians and Muscles" class I attended by Dr. Craig Buhler. Dr. Buhler was the resident chiropractor for the Utah Jazz for 23 years. He talked about bio-mechanics, stretching, and taking care of our bodies to avoid injuries from playing instruments.

Pain and inflammation are the alarm system our body uses when something is wrong. Our body is telling us we have stressed and traumatized an area of our body. So many of us ignore these alarms and just medicate them - or choose surgery to "get rid of the problem". Your body is not telling you that you are deficient in ibuprofen or cortisone. We never treat the cause.

I have been playing the violin for 22 years. I first remember having pain in my neck and back when I was a sophomore in high school. I didn't really know why, but I knew it was from playing the violin. I have just been dealing with the pain as much as I can for the last 17 years. I was diagnosed with tendonitis and over-use syndrome. I have been to 4 different chiropractors, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. I almost gave myself Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in college. I was playing violin 2-3 hours a day, typing 4 hours a day for work, taking notes in class and doing all the other things we do with our hands. I took lots of ibuprofen, used wrist braces and did the best I could to deal with the pain.

When Dr. Buhler talked about bio-mechanics it made a lot of sense to me. We have many systems in our bodies. When a system is under stress it cannot work properly and it affects how the other systems work. Our hands have the most amount of bones in them and we use them for many many things. They are a highly sophisticated instrument. We need to understand how our body works and use it properly to avoid causing stress or injuring ourselves.

This applies to musicians a lot. We use our bodies in ways that are not normal. Especially violinists. To play the violin is mostly a unilateral practice - we mostly use the left side of our bodies. The muscles and bones on the left side of our body either become over-developed or over-stressed. We must counter-act this by stretching and working the right side of our body equally, to avoid pain.

Technique is the most important factor in avoiding injury as a musician, athlete, or even a typist. "Practice makes perfect" ?? NO - "PERFECT Practice makes PERFECT." Because we can practice something the wrong way 100x and we will be perfect at doing it the wrong way. As a violin teacher, I try to teach proper technique from the very beginning. I talk a lot about how technique affects the tone and quality of our playing. But it also helps our bodies avoid injury. We need to look at the long-term outcome of our actions.

Another interesting thing Dr. Buhler discussed was people who are "double-jointed". He said that term means that muscles/joints are under-developed or weak. As teachers, we should not reinforce the collapse in the "double-joint". The small muscles in our hands are among the most important - they need to fire in the appropriate sequence in order to function properly. The more we work on developing those muscles and joints, the stronger they will get. This will also help in playing the violin, because the fingers will be able to respond more accurately and quickly.

A bad habit I have is popping my own neck. It feels sore, I feel like popping it "helps" it feel better. But really I'm creating a hyper-mobile, over-rotating joint, and it makes it more difficult for a chiropractor to adjust the joint that is actually locked. Apparently you need "training" to properly "manipulate" a joint... :) Dr. Buhler said, "I always tell people, 'Would you perform your own appendectomy?' " HAHAHA

So, how do we help our children avoid injuries? I feel that I am learning more and becoming more qualified to teach proper technique and stretching exercises to properly develop muscles used in playing the violin. I still have a lot to learn. I would like to have a mandatory stretching class this month. I really want everyone there so we can maximize my time and help everyone learn to avoid the pain that I have caused myself. Right now I am planning this class for next Friday, April 29th at 4:00 at my house. It will be 30-45 minutes. I'm not sure how long. If you have more questions after that we can go until 5:00 or so. This class is free. Please make every effort to attend. If you have a conflict and that day absolutely doesn't work, let me know ASAP and I will see about possibly doing another class, depending on how many people can't come.

I have been going to the chiropractor this week to get myself properly re-aligned. It's been about 8 months since the last time I went. I need to do a better job of stretching in between visits, and keeping up my maintenance adjustment schedule. I feel so much better when I do. Also, a big thing that has helped me is Calcium, Omega 3 fatty acids, and Aloe. If you need a suggestion about where to get excellent supplements, tell me. I am a Registered Nutritional Consultant with Symmetry Direct, and I have been using our products for 8 years. When I am good and keep my body regulated with the proper minerals and vitamins, I function a lot better.