Injury Prevention & Management for Musicians - The Wind & Brass Player's Guide

Written by a health care practitioner and musician for musicians, the Injury Prevention & Management for Musicians series is designed to point out common and not so common problems that the musician may encounter during practice or performance situations. The injuries and conditions themselves are explained, along with their prevention and treatment options, in addition to general postural guidelines and instrument specific technique analysis.Most problems for wind and brass players start at the beginning. When one is first learning to play, in applying themselves to master the material, they play harder as the brain tells the body that they need to “try harder”, so the body takes this to mean play harder. This then becomes a learned habit and can manifest as a problem early, in which case most will play through the pain and ignore it, or later, sometimes after the damage has been accruing for years.This book is designed to give one the tools to learn ways to avoid injury, the earlier the better, but that can be implemented anytime in a player’s career without changing their style or technique too much, if at all, the idea being to work smarter, not harder.Wind & brass players face many challenges when it comes to avoiding playing related injuries. The reasons and causes for injury are many, which is why after my first book on injury prevention for musicians, ‘The Bassist’s Guide to Injury Management, Prevention and Better Health’, was so well received by both the musical and health care communities, I began work on this entry in my injury prevention for musicians book series in order to tackle the subject on a larger scale. The book will cover the primary wind and brass instruments as used in a musical setting, with other variations addressed as appropriate.Any serious musician has had, at one time or another, perhaps chronically, a performance limiting injury or incident, from something as minimal as a muscle cramp to tendinitis or worse. If ignored, these symptoms may become a chronic condition, in which case perhaps one may seek or has sought professional help, only to be told to stop playing for a period of time or altogether. Maybe one was given medication or a shot which served to mask the discomfort, but proved ineffective at identifying and clearing up the true cause of the symptoms. When this failed, one may have been offered a form of physical therapy in a one treatment fits all approach, or a surgical procedure which could not guarantee satisfactory results or a quick or complete recovery.This book puts forth treatments and suggestions that are seen not only from the perspective of a physician but also that of a musician.Injury Prevention & Management For Musicians - The Wind & Brass Player’s Guide is a useful reference guide for the amateur and professional musician alike, as well as the teacher, student or health care worker or provider. Randall Kertz is a chiropractic physician, acupuncturist, author, educator, lecturer, consultant, product developer and bassist. He treats musicians of all playing styles in his office and on tour. Read more