TRETING PROGRAMMES FOR PAIN: POSTURE AND ERGONOMICS
When the affected muscles are held contracted in one position without rest for lengthy periods. The loading is the weight the muscles have to support. This usually occurs in the parts of the body that are normally kept still while the hands or arms are moving to produce the music or when typing or working on the production line.
The posture adopted by some pianists predisposes them to overusage symptoms in the shoulder girdles and upper limbs. The use of an upright playing position with the keyboard at a height that allows the forearms to be at an approximate right angle to the upper arms would reduce the static loads on the muscles of the upper back and shoulder girdles — those muscles along the upper dorsal vertebrae, around the shoulder blades and at the junction between the neck and upper shoulders.
There is therefore a greater possibility for the products of metabolism of muscle to be cleared from muscles which must otherwise be adversely affected by the anaerobic processes that follow such overuse. A simple programme ensuring that long periods of practice are punctuated by movement and relaxation away from the keyboard should therefore be a high priority in the teaching of piano and other instruments where the muscles of the shoulder girdles are under constant tension.
Such programmes have been introduced by many concerned employers as an intrinsic part of the increased interest in occupational health and safety. Frequent periods of rest, or isometric exercise or even aerobics programmes are now common in a range of industries.
For those who play musical instruments in the upright position a proper awareness of the position of the body and limbs, as well as the head and neck should be taught. They should be aware of how they grasp their instruments and how excess tension in the muscles will lead to a deterioration in the quality of the music that they produce.
It must always be remembered that the ubiquitous lumbago or chronic back pain afflicts the majority of humans at some time in their life and that early intervention through improved body awareness and exercise is never introduced too early.
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