Welcome back to Musician’s Maintenance, for musician’s who just can’t afford to have pain and injury limiting their playing.
This issue is brought to you by Rehab Science Digital Rehab Programs, affordable, quality, science based exercise programs for common injuries that musicians face. See all of the programs available here (affiliate).
I’m Cody, and I appreciate spending the next few minutes in your inbox. Below you’ll find resources and exercises to help you maintain your body at least as well as you maintain your instrument. Let’s get to it!
What Every Musician Ought to Know About Sleep
One of the biggest differences between amateurs and high level professionals isn’t how hard or long they practice and train. It’s how well they recover, and sleep is our most powerful tool for recovery.
Sleep also plays an integral role in your ability to learn, perform, and has a huge effect on injury risk and recovery. For many of us though, sleep can be really challenging and much of the advice I have come across isn’t that helpful.
Recently I found a podcast by Stanford Neuroscience Professor Andrew Huberman that takes a deep (but accessible) dive on the science of sleep and provides some of the best, science based, tactics to improve sleep that I have heard.
I highly recommend that you take the time to watch or listen to the talk and see which of the tactics might help you the most.
Hubernan Lab Podcast | Episode 2: Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake
4 Exercises for Healthy Nerves
You have 3 main nerves that travel from your neck, all the way down to your fingers. If they encounter too much stress, they can become irritated, leading to conditions like carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet and others.
Nerves love blood flow, movement, and space, so here are 4 exercises from physical therapist Tom Walters of Rehab Science to get your median and ulnar nerves moving. Watch the videos for the ulnar nerve here and the videos for the median nerve here, then try the routine below. As always, make sure you understand the newsletter exercise ground rules before you start.
- Ulnar Nerve Slider (second clip): 10 slow repetitions.
- Ulnar Nerve Tensioner (first clip): 10 slow repetitions, stopping at the first sensation of tightness. This exercise is meant to help your nerve tolerate more stress, so skip it if you have any discomfort.
- Median Nerve Slider (first clip): 10 slow repetitions.
- Median Nerve Tensioner (second clip): Hold the position for 2-3 seconds. Repeat 5 times. This exercise is also meant to help your nerve tolerate more stress, so skip it if you have any discomfort.
- If you are feeling good and have the time, repeat 1-2 more rounds, or later on during the day.
Don’t forget to take care of the rest of your body as well!
Help Turn the Tide of Injury in Musicians
Rates of injury in musicians is insanely high and it ends more careers than it needs to. If you want to be a part the solution, one of the easiest things you can do is connect fellow musicians with good resources. If you find information like this helpful, please consider forwarding this email to a friend, colleague, teacher or classmate. They can also sign up here. Thanks!