How You are Giving Yourself Low Back Pain

This is the opening article in a series examining low back pain and injury in the performing arts.

Low back pain is one of the most common – and potentially debilitating – musculoskeletal problems. In performing artists, thankfully, most instances of low back pain do not involve serious injury. However, this does not mean that low back pain can be ignored when it does occur.

7 Steps to Ensure Your Voice Survives the Royals' Postseason

After the Chiefs’ domination in Monday Night Football at Arrowhead and the Royals’ first postseason win in 29 years last night, more than a few Kansas Citians are likely to have vocal trauma and maybe a hoarse voice this week.

The vocal cords are bands of connective tissue that run across the trachea (“windpipe”) and vibrate when air is forcefully exhaled past them. Vocal pitch is controlled by contractions of tiny muscles attached to the ends of the vocal cords which tighten and flatten the vocal cords. When you scream or yell as loudly as you can and/or for an extended period of time, the vocal cords are exposed to a large amount of vibration, which can cause friction and irritation, leading to inflammation, swelling, damage, and pain.

The Body's 5 Distinctive Reactions to an Acute Injury

When an injury happens, the body has a set reaction called the inflammatory response, which is the first step in the body’s healing process. Swelling is a key component to the inflammatory response, but there are four other characteristic signs of inflammation, too: redness, heat in the affected area, pain, and dysfunction.

Yoga for Performing Artists: 9 Fantastic Daily Yoga Poses for Marchers

This is the first in a series of articles designed to help you identify a handful of yoga positions that will be most beneficial to your particular performance genre. This article focuses on marchers. Check back for future articles for dancers, instrumentalists (not marching), and 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.

Shoulder Injuries in the Performing Arts: "Separations"

This is the second article in a series on shoulder injuries in the performing arts. This series of articles will address fairly damaging acute shoulder injuries. Unless otherwise noted, these injuries are substantial enough that they should not be self-treated until after you've seen a medical professional who has instructed you to do so. These traumatic shoulder injuries should be treated as emergencies, since there is a high risk of significant complications if they are improperly or incompletely cared for (these complications can include nerve damage, internal bleeding, and nonunion fractures). Some of the injuries discussed in this series can be caused by accidental falls or collisions, but these articles will focus on other mechanisms of injury.

Clothes that Burn Calories?

Some companies that sell exercise clothes make a lot of claims about the abilities of these clothes nowadays. According to ads, these clothes soak up sweat, keep you cool, improve your body’s functioning, and now, help you burn more calories.  With all these "specialized" clothes, shopping for exercise clothes can be overwhelming and confusing.

Not only are many of these claims unproven, but not all of the “perks” advertised by these companies are actually desirable for exercise clothes (or even good for you). If you are considering purchasing one or more of these types of special exercise clothes, make sure you research how the clothes go about achieving their claim-to-fame (if they do). Some clothes actually end up interfering with your body’s natural cooling processes, which can put you at risk of overheating while exercising.

Foot Care for Marchers

Marching band can be a great deal of fun, but it can also put your body at risk of developing injuries. Old, worn-out, or improperly-sized shoes, sweaty feet, standing for long hours, and a whole lot of marching can lead to a host of problems, including blisters, plantar fasciitis, ingrown toenails, skin or nail infections, and foot, ankle, lower leg, knee, hip, or even back pain. It isn’t just the shoes or the long hours that can take their toll; even the surfaces that bands typically march on can have negative consequences for your body: clumps of grass on football fields, curbs at parades, angled or uneven surfaces – even standing or marching on the bleachers/stairs.