Muscle Imbalances and Poor Posture: A Dangerous Cycle

Using a muscle group more than its counterpart leads to imbalances in strength, flexibility, resting length, and muscle efficiency between these two groups. These muscular imbalances can lead to poor posture, pain, and injury. Instrumentalists are particularly vulnerable to developing muscle imbalances due to the repetitive motions and long hours with insufficient breaks that seem to go hand-in-hand with playing a musical instrument.

5 Upper Body Stretches for Lower-Register Symphonic Instrumentalists

This article completes a series examining upper body stretches for specific types of performing artists. The grouping of stretches presented in this article is targeted toward musicians who play while seated with their arms more or less at their sides. Previous articles have identified key upper body stretches for marchers/musicians who stand, dancers, and musicians who play while seated with their arms elevated.

Injury Risk Factors for Musicians

Playing a musical instrument, like all activities in the performing arts, carries a certain amount of inherent risk of developing an injury. However, identifying the injury risk factors instrumentalists face isn’t always easy since nearly all injuries instrumentalists suffer are chronic injuries (also called “overuse injuries”). It’s much easier to identify risk factors for a traumatic injury, because these injuries are typically caused by a single incident (like a fall or collision), whereas chronic injuries are caused by a combination of a number of predisposing factors and events.

How Ergonomic Principles Can Improve Your Playing

Since the 1950s, the word “ergonomics” has been used to describe the study of humans and their interaction with objects in their lives. This field has focused on improving the design, manufacture, and arrangement of objects within a given (work) environment to make these locations and the actions performed in them safe, healthy, and comfortable. Instrumentalists can benefit greatly from modern ergonomics, as musical performance requires a very high amount of repetitive motions that can lead to injury.

Yoga for Performing Artists: 6 Relaxing Yoga Positions for Instrumentalists

This is the third article in a series designed to help you identify a handful of yoga positions that will be most beneficial to your particular performance genre. This article focuses on instrumentalists (not including marchers). The previous two articles were for marching band members and dancers. Check back for the series’ final article, focusing on stage crew.

Practicing yoga offers performers many significant benefits, including lowering stress levels, promoting physical and mental relaxation, improving balance, and maintaining or improving flexibility. All of these things can help keep your immune system functioning optimally, maintain a healthy body weight, and reduce the likelihood of falls that can cause injuries. Additionally, regular yoga practice can improve body awareness, which can improve precision of movement, improve aesthetic qualities of performance and movement, lower unnecessary muscular tension, and improve posture.

6 Stretches for Instrumentalists

This article continues a series examining upper body stretches for specific types of performing artists. The grouping of stretches presented in this article is targeted toward musicians who play while seated with their arms elevated. Future articles in this series will identify key upper body stretches for dancers and musicians who play with their arms lower than the musicians addressed here.

6 Upper Body Stretches All Marchers Should Be Doing

This article opens a series examining upper body stretches for specific types of performing artists. The grouping of stretches presented in this article is targeted toward musicians who stand when they play and for members of the marching band. Future articles in this series will identify key upper body stretches for dancers and seated musicians.

Performer’s Perspective: The Two-Year Injury Saga that Nearly Ended All of My Activities

Laura Mertz

Violinist

Age at time of injury: 14-16 years old

Site of injury: shoulders and upper back

Laura is a performing arts medicine specialist and the owner of Behind the Scenes Medical Consulting. Her first experience with debilitating playing-related pain came as a 16-year-old violinist. Here, she details her injury and how she eventually overcame it – with the help of the friendly person working at KC Strings on the day she came in to correct her playing ergonomics.