JAVS Fall 1999

29

The Athletic Musician

Reviewed by Ralph Fielding andjoan Firra

numbness in the last two fingers of the left hand, with tingling from the wrist to the elbow along the ulnar nerve. I also suffer from occasional neck cramps on the left side. This problem had been alternately diagnosed, over a 20-year period, as tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or repetitive stress syndrome. I sub mitted to many neurological tests (I twice had electrodes stuck in my hand and arm muscles), soaked my left arm in ice water every night, and swallowed so much aspirin daily (in the form of Alka-Seltzer) that I developed an in tolerance for the drug. All this effort was to no avail. It was only recently that an MRI cor rectly identified the problem as nerve compres sion between the vertebrae in my neck. So, it was very satisfYing to see that Barbara Paull specifically calls attention to this very problem in her book, complete with X-ray view drawings of a person slumping forward (p. 45). Ms. Paull emphasizes the importance of maintaining the proper posture of neck and shoulders. She showed me, in a private consul tation, some exercises I can do in rhe car (listed in the book) to try to restore the proper posi tion of my neck. In fact, more than a third of the book is devoted to a basic anatomy of the arm, wrist, hand, neck, back, and shoulder, ex tensively illustrated and coupled with excellent advice on which movements are appropriate and which are not. For instance, don't sit, twist, and lift, as when sitting in the front seat of a car and reaching around to get something from the back. The authors put particular em phasis on the need for musicians to develop their rotator cuff muscles (in the back shoulder area) to compensate for rhe strengrh rhey have built up in the front (pectoral muscles). They also point out that most musicians are excep tionally strong in the hand and arm muscles and therefore should avoid exercises designed to strengrhen them further. From the response of the seminar audi ences at the Viola Congress, it was dear that many musicians have not been exposed to the

The Athletic Musician: A Guide to Playing without Pain is designed to teach musicians how to prevent and manage injuries, combin ing sound medical protocol with a musician's perspective. Barbara Paull, M.C.S.P., M.C.P.A., has concentrated on orthopedic physiotherapy in many different clinical settings over 30 years and currently works as a consultant, clinician, and lecturer. Christine Harrison is a free-lance violinist and teacher working in Toronto, Canada. She has performed with various sym phonic, chamber, and rheater groups. Paull and Harrison together presented the "Playing wirh out Pain" workshop at the recent Guelph con gress. ]AVS asked violist Ralph Fielding and physical therapist Joan Firra to share their in sights on this new work. A V1ousr's PERSPECTIVE Barbara Paull and Christine Harrison gave their no-nonsense, articulate, and entertaining lecture series "Playing without Pain" at this June's Viola Congress in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. They seemed to have struck a nerve with a large number of suffering (literally) violists, as evinced by the crowds that gath ered around them after each day's talk. With props that included overhead projectors, a model skeleton, pass-around bones, lots of bad chairs, various strength-measuring de vices, and volunteers from the audience, they presented musicians' aches and pains from a physical therapy perspective. Paull has been a physical therapist for more than 30 years and has run a clinic for musicians' injuries since 1992. Harrison was her first musician patient and is now her collaborator on their lectures around the world and in their new book The Athletic Musician: A Guide to Play ing without Pain (published by Scarecrow Press, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland, 20706. Telephone: 1-800-462-6420). Like many violists, I have grappled with the physical difficulty of playing the instrument. My main complaint has been bouts of pain and