The physical side of making music
 

Howdy,

First a disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the folks I'm talking about below. I just found this therapy method to be so amazing and useful that I wanted to share it with my musician friends on the forum here!

I know that sometimes there can be various types of physical stresses or imbalances caused by playing instruments for long periods of time, or even sitting and using software to create music ;) I've not really had any issues myself with that, I think because I don't get to do any one activity for too long before someone is hollering "MOM!" :) But I know it can be an issue for others.

I personally have had bad knees since I was young. A physical therapist friend of mine just recently started using Total Motion Release techniques (TMR) and is seeing astounding results with her patients. Knowing about my knees she pointed me to the website (www.totalmotionrelease.com) because there is all the information to do this method - for free! I downloaded the free video and book package (Outsmart Pain), and proceeded to use the method for my knee issues. Wow! My left knee especially felt so much better. Then yesterday, I felt a migraine coming on, and tried the same method for that. WOOOWWW! My migraine started abating right away. I've never been able to do that with any kind of therapy or drugs before. The headache has still been present for the typical 24 hour stretch, but only as a tiny nuisance pinpoint of pain, not the typically debilitating-to-the-point-I-can't-think-straight issue it usually is. I can deal with that much improvement from a five minute exercise!

I know from a bass list that I'm on that playing-related physical stresses are not uncommon, and I got to thinking that these exercises are so easy and quick to do, and have helped me so much that I really wanted to share it with other folks. So, I really encourage you here - if you have aches or pains or arthritis or stiffness or whatever, give this Total Motion Release method a try. All the information you need to do it is on the website for free. (Yeah, he's riled up a lot of the PT community by giving away his information. But he has a heart to help folks, not to become a multimillionaire.)

You don't need any equipment, nor anything special to do these exercises, and they really give you the capability to fix yourself any time. It's ridiculously simple and easy, but most importantly, it works. The basic premise is that your body is an interconnected whole. Any issue (stiffness, pain, whatever) in one part throws your body out of balance, and affects the other parts as well. By exercising parts of your body that are "good", the bad side learns how to be good, and also positively affects any other issues that you have, making them better as well.

I should mention that my "trained" background is biochemistry, and I spent a lot of years in medical research. Therefore, I'm always of the "prove it to me" mind set when it comes to body-related fixes. As I mentioned above, using this method on my knees and migraine did indeed prove to me that this approach works, and works really well.

If sharing this helps out even just a few folks with a nagging issue, then it will be a good thing. I figure anything that helps making music more enjoyable is a very good thing!

Enjoy!
Sherry

(btw, I've emailed with Tom Dalonzo-Baker, the physical therapist who developed this approach. He's a great guy, and really wants to just help folks live better. He fits our own Notation Software philosophy to a "t" :) )