The Kitchen Danger Zone for Guitarists: How Cooking Risks Can Threaten Your Hands, Wrists, and Music
The Kitchen Danger Zone for Guitarists: How Cooking Risks Can Threaten Your Hands, Wrists, and Music For guitarists, and other people too, the kitchen is often a creative outlet. It is another place where rhythm, timing, and precision matter. But few realize that the same space where you sauté and slice can also be a danger zone for your hands, wrists, and shoulders. The repetitive, awkward, or forceful motions used in the kitchen can compound the same physical stress patterns that affect your guitar playing. This can lead to confusing causes, and hard to identify perpetuating factors, for injuries that you are tying to heal from or prevent. This post will help you connect many of the dots. Remember, as dumb as some of these suggestions may sound, they aren’t as dumb as having had the information, ignoring it, and ending up with a career altering injury that results in surgery and relearning how to play your instrument around the scar tissue that impairs your finger movement. 1. The Knife Grip: Cutting Into Dexterity The Risk Repeated chopping with a dull knife or poor wrist posture can inflame the small tendons and joints in your hand, especially the thumb...
read moreIs there hope for the American healthcare system?
Is there hope for the American healthcare system? The U.S. healthcare system has had many strengths—innovation, world-class hospitals, and leading medical research—but in recent years has begun to face the consequences of serious and well-documented negative issues. Below is a breakdown of some of the major problems, along with how they interrelate, leading to problems for all of us. The purpose of this blog is to reinforce the need to “take the law into your own hands” and utilize preventive measures and self empowerment to stay as far removed from our failing medical system as possible for sick care. “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of ________?” You’ve heard this before, no? Using reactive sick care medicine to make people healthier doesn’t work. By the time western medicine stands up to “fix” your problem, you already have the problem. Maine Medical Center just added an HUGE cardiac extension to the hospital. Cardiac issues are some of the most preventable conditions through proper education and effort put on prevention. Instead of building a cardiac health, cardiovascular disease prevention building, they built one to do the same work they’ve been doing, but...
read moreThe Importance Of Sleep For Musicians
The Physical & Mental Toll of Poor Sleep on Musicians For musicians—whether hobbyists or professionals—the body is the instrument as much as the guitar, saxophone, piano keys or drumsticks. Like with any type of professional, when sleep is compromised by poor sleep posture, twisted alignment or sustained strain, the consequences ripple through both physical performance and mental wellbeing. By the time the pain and disability has manifested, you may already have big problems. Let’s explore how different sleep positions and habits can injure the body and mind of a musician, and how chiropractic care offers a drug and surgery path toward healing and prevention. 1. Physical Problems That Arise from Bad Sleep Posture a) Sleeping on the stomach When you sleep face-down (stomach sleeping), you must turn your head to one side for a prolonged period. This places significant strain on the neck, shoulders and upper back. Most spine experts will tell you: “Stomach sleeping is arguably the worst position… this head position puts a strain on your neck, head, and shoulders, and may lead to headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, numbness, tingling, weakness.” For a musician, neck stiffness or shoulder pain after sleep means compromised posture when...
read moreFall Risk in the elderly and what we can learn from the tragic death of Ace Frehley
Preventing Falls After 70: Understanding the Risks and How Chiropractic Care Can Help. RIP ACE FREHLEY Why Falls After 70 Are So Dangerous After age 70, the body’s resilience, muscle tone, and neurological coordination naturally decline. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), falls are the leading cause of injury-related death in adults over 65. By age 70 and beyond, the risk of serious injury or death doubles every decade. If you have aging parents, or if you are/were a huge fan of Ace Frehley, who just passed away after a “minor fall” and subsequent “brain bleed”, you should read on… Key Statistics: * 1 in 3 adults over 70 falls each year. * Falls cause over 95% of hip fractures in older adults. * Falls rank as the #1 cause of accidental death in adults over 70. * After a serious fall, over 50% lose their previous level of independence within a year. Common Reasons for Falls After Age 70 Falls rarely have a single cause. They’re usually the result of interacting physical, neurological, and environmental factors, such as: 1. Muscle weakness and poor postural control Loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers makes...
read moreBanjo Player Injuries: Common Health Issues, Famous Cases, and Chiropractic Solutions
Banjo Player Injuries: Common Health Issues, Famous Cases, and Chiropractic Solutions The banjo is an iconic instrument in bluegrass, folk, and jazz, and we salute you for your efforts to bring us your music. For you, the musicians behind the music, the physical demands can take a serious toll. I regularly see the effects that the long hours of repetitive picking, high string tension, awkward wrist angles, and seated playing posture all lead to. These injuries and long-term health problems can derail a musical career or steal someone’s favorite hobby from them. As a health care guardian of the music, I am compelled to share some banjo player injuries, prevention and management with you. Let’s explore the most common injuries among banjo players, highlight well-known banjoists who have struggled with these issues, and review how chiropractic care and other conservative therapies can provide effective, drug-free solutions. Common Injuries and Health Issues in Banjo Players 1. Tendinitis and Tenosynovitis * Overuse of the wrist and fingers from rapid rolls and picking patterns can inflame tendons. * Players often feel aching, burning, or stiffness along the forearm or wrist. 2. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome * The repetitive flexion and extension of the...
read more