Welcome back to Musician’s Maintenance, for musicians who just can’t afford to have pain and injury limit their playing.
This issue is brought to you by me! You take lessons for your instrument, but have you thought of taking lessons for your body? Learn how understanding your body benefits your music and how I may be able to help.
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!
5 Self-Massage Techniques for Hand Stiffness and Pain
The most common site of injury for musicians is the finger and hand. This probably isn’t surprising to you, but are you taking steps to reduce the likelihood of hand injury?
Here are 5 great hand and wrist recovery techniques from drummer and Occupational Therapist Amanda Watson of The Well Musician. They would be great to incorporate at the end of a long practice session, at the end of the day, or when stiffness and tension start morph into pain.
Watch the video to learn the techniques then give the brief routine below a try.
- Wrist Traction: 30 sec per side. Remember to breathe and relax.
- Thumb Tendon Stretch: 30 sec per side.
- Tiny Hand Muscle Self Massage: 30-60 sec total per side. If you find an area that is particularly sore, spend a little more time there.
- Thumb Grab Massage: 30 sec per side.
- Wrist and Finger Traction with Interlocked Fingers: 30 sec per side.
5 Self-Massage Techniques for Hand Stiffness and Pain | The Well Musician via Instagram
10 Tips for Better Sleep
Sleep is wildly important for musicians. Among other things, it’s where improvements muscle memory actually happens and a chronic lack of sleep is a predictor of injury.
In other words if you aren’t sleeping well, it’s harder for all of that practice to translate to actual improvements, and you are more likely to get injured.
Sleep is one of those things that we all know we should be doing better, but we often don’t. Here’s a nice post from @feelgoodaf (that I found via @thisisequilibrium) with 10 ideas to try.
Keep in mind, you don’t have to do all 10. Pick a few, experiment, and see what helps. Even marginal improvements in sleep on a nightly basis can be very helpful.
- Establish a regular bedtime and waking time
- Allow yourself to take a nap if you are tired
- Adjust to a healthier lifestyle regarding your substance use
- Create a caffeine cutoff time
- Change your bedtime snack
- Watch your workout routine
- Use comfortable, inviting bedding
- Find a comfortable sleep temperature and keep the room well ventilated
- Block out distracting noise and eliminate as much light as possible
- Reserve your bed for sleep and sex, avoiding it’s use for work or general recreation
If you want more info on sleep, I’ve also done newsletters on “What Every Musician Ought to Know About Sleep” and “Sleep, Injury, and Elite Performance”.
10 Tips for Better Sleep | Feel Good AF via Instagram
Help Turn the Tide of Injury in Musicians
The rate 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!