Hey there musicians. Here’s your weekly reminder to take one small step towards taking better care of your body.
This week’s musician specific movements and ideas focus on hand health from a legend, wrist and forearm exercises, and 2 new musician’s health courses.
As always, make sure you understand the newsletter exercise ground rules. Also, remember that reading about exercises and thinking about doing them is better than nothing, but nothing is actually going to change unless you take some action. If you’re not ready to do everything on the list, that’s ok, but try to pick something and get moving. Your body will thank you!
Musicians health advice from one of my guitar heroes
It’s always interesting to have a successful, experienced musician take a look back at their journey, and what they would have done different in terms of their health.
Here’s a great video from one of my personal guitar heroes, Steve Vai where he talks about his current injury situations, what he wished he did when he was younger, and his advice for staying healthy while playing at a very high level.
Watch the video here and see if any of his recommendations resonate for you.
Alien Guitar Secrets – Episode 9: Hand Health | Steve Vai via YouTube
Support: Digital Health Busking
You’re probably familiar with the idea of busking. You go out in public, share your music with any and all who pass by, and hope that a few will show their appreciation by giving what they can. I like to think of what I’m doing here as digital health busking. This is my virtual street corner, where share what I have learned in an effort to provide value to a community I care about.
If you find this information valuable and are in a position to spare a few dollars, your support is greatly appreciated. My virtual “hat” can be found at either this link or on Venmo (@cody-weisbach).
If you aren’t in a position to provide financial support, I totally understand. You can also support by sharing this with friends, colleagues, teachers or classmates. Either hit the forward button or they can always sign up here.
Thanks so much for inviting me into your inbox and for the music you bring to the world. We need it now more than ever!
7 exercises for wrist and forearm maintenance
Wrist and forearms are the most common areas that musicians experience pain. Taking care of those areas is really important. Luckily physical therapy student Devon Hoffman has put together 7 excellent exercises. Watch the video here, then try the routine below.
If you don’t have a theraband loop, here’s nice affordable set, or you can just use any strap or belt.
- Resisted Supination: 10 slow reps on each side.
- Wrist Flexor Stretch: 2 second pause. 10 per side.
- Wrist Extensor Stretch: 2 second pause. 10 per side.
- Wrist Extensor Eccentrics: 10 per side. Each repetition should take you 3-4 seconds, which is a lot slower than the video shows.
- Wrist Flexor Eccentrics: 10 per side, again with each rep taking 3-4 seconds
- Wrist Flexor Self Massage: 30 seconds per side.
- Wrist Extensor Self Massage: 30 seconds per side.
Elbow Pain Exercises | Devon Hoffman, SPT
2 new musician’s health courses worth checking out
If you need more help (or accountability!) than free information on the internet can provide, here are two great paid courses.
One is Musician’s Guide to the Body: Anatomy 101 from an amazing physical therapist for musicians, Dr. Janice Ying that includes live sessions over 8 weeks. The other is from violinist Hannah Murray that is an eclectic mix of concepts from Timani, Yoga, Anatomy and more.
So if you are considering investing in your health, these are two really high quality options. Hit the links below and learn a little more.
Musician’s Guide to the Body: Anatomy 101 | Janice Ying, PT, DPT, OCS/Opus Physical Therapy
Pain Free Performer Program | Hannah Murray/The Active Violinist