Musicians must practice long hours and often times develop what is called a repetitive strain injury (RSI).  This can be anywhere in the body from the jaw, arm, leg, hand, fingers, low back, shoulder.  

Repetitive strains can greatly effect their jobs and keep them out of work for long periods of time because the discomfort is too hard to deal with while working.   Unfortunately, a lot of musicians and people in general think that discomfort will go away on its own.  If you are experiencing discomfort in your body, it means there is a problem.  Your body is trying to tell you something and is trying to protect itself from further damage by giving you pain or some kind of discomfort so you don't make your injury worse. 

Most times, I see people who have pushed it so far that they now can't play and can't work and they want fast results.  Unfortunately, what has happened is an injury and injuries take time and dedication to heal, not to mention stay incident free. 

So, how do RSIs happen?

Let's begin by letting you know that the brain and spinal cord (Nervous System) control everything in your body.  That means your organs (heart/lungs), glands (release hormones/substances), tissues, immune system.  As you know, your brain is involved in everything so this should make sense. Stress interferes with your body, especially your nervous system.  When your body can not get rid of stress it stores in the body and presents itself as a symptom.  

There are 3 different stressors:
1. Physical: Stressful lifestyle choices like sitting slouched (posture), falls or accidents etc.
2. Chemical: Bad food, pesticides, toxic chemicals in the body (smoking/junk food)
3. Emotional: Stress from Family, work, relationship, death of a loved one or animal

Continued stress from these different areas will cause the body to tighten up and effect your posture, spine and muscles. The nervous system will be effected and then effect all the areas that the nervous system sends signals to.  This is called a subluxation.  

What is a Subluxation?

Subluxations untreated will lead to diseases, sickness and discomfort in the body. What is fairly common is for me to hear people say they felt great before and had no problems and then the symptom suddenly appeared.  Problems arise when the stress keeps happening and nothing is done about it to release it from the system.  Playing an instrument for 8 or more hours per day is stressful to the body.  Eating foods that aren't good for you causes more stress, then if you are worried about anything else will effect the body as well.  Everything starts building up and the body will give you some signals.  It may be tight or you may feel a tweak or shock for a second and then it goes away.  This is a warning sign of things to come.  Don't ignore this or next time it will be a harsher signal.  

The problem is that people feel these signs and they ignore them until there is so much discomfort that they can't deal with it anymore.  This is a great example of how built up stress will effect everything and lead to sickness and discomfort. We can help by getting rid of such stress in the body.  

Dr. Amie Gregory, DC, CCEP, ANF is a San Francisco, CA and San Carlos, CA chiropractor that understands full body health and how stress can effect organs and systems.  She works with athletes, expectant moms, office workers and everyone else in between.  Contact our San Francisco, CA chiropractic office or San Carlos, CA chiropractic office today!