Injury as a Musician: Tendinitis

Like athletes, even musicians face injury and risking damage to their bodies. 

The most common of these is tendinitis.

What is tendinitis?  Tendinitis is an inflammation of the tendons (tendons are what attaches muscles to the bone -- they're a thick and fibered cord ), and this inflammation usually results from a repeated stress on a particular area over time. For musicians, this usually happens in the wrist due to handhold of the instrument. Tendinitis is marked by a tenderness, sometimes swelling, and an overall irritation when moving\using the inflamed area.

Luckily tendinitis is not serious -- but it can lead to a higher risk of tedon rupture, which is something serious. Luckily there are ways to combat tendinitis -- because nobody wants a tendon rupture or to have ache-y wrists while they play. 

The best way to combat it? Reduce as much tension as you can. In my weekly oboe lessons, handhold and release of tension has been a crucial aspect. (The release of this tension is not only good for reducing risk of tendinitis, but also makes for better playing!)

Reducing the tension means putting your hand in as much of a relaxed position as you can -- curve fingers. Curved fingers take less effort to move. To demonstrate this point, lay your fingers flat and try to move them as fast as you can. Now curve your fingers and do the same thing. The curved fingers move much faster and with less tension.

 

However, hand grip is much more complicated -- I can certainly attest: I spent almost a whole hour lesson on handhold alone last week. Depending on the instrument and player, the tension and sources of caused tendinitis vary. I tend to leave my fourth fingers flat, press down the pinky keys with too much force, and grip the oboe with the left thumb. All of that not only increases tension and risk of tendinitis, but slows down my playing and technique. I have invested a lot of time into relearning my handhold, but overall it has benefited my playing abilities. It's a tedious process to change  how you hold the instrument, but in the end it works out for the better! 

 

Works Cited:  

 

"tendinitis" mayoclinic.com Mayo Clinic. 8 Nov, 2011. Web. Oct. 3, 2012.