injury management
Overuse Injuries of the Lower Back
The back and neck can become strained from either sitting or standing for long periods. The main problem with the back is that it's not strong enough to hold us up. Small muscles close to the vertebrae become loaded as the spine loses it's natural curves and both large sections of the spine and individual segments lose their mobility. Eventually muscles hypertrophy and become ischaemic, spinal nerves can be impinged as spinal segments lock or when intervertabral discs move and compress them against bony structures.
Overuse injuries of the elbow
Elbow pain is generally related to tendinopathies in the muscles that control the wrist and hand. On the inside (ventral surface) of your arm the wrist and hand flexors originate on the medial epicondyle. On the outside, the dorsal surface, the extensors of the wrist and hand attach on the lateral epicondyle.
As well as the strategies in the members section the biomechanics studies of the wrist and hand are relevant for most soft tissue injuries of the elbow due to the location of flexor and extensor tendon attachments.
Overuse injuries of the shoulder
The shoulder is prone to muscle strain, particularly of the rotator cuff (especially supraspinatus), serratus anterior and upper trapezius muscles. The position of the right shoulder is a problematic one for guitar players as is the myofascial tension usually present on both sides. Many technical difficulties with the position of the hands can be traced to shoulder tension which again has a significant impact on the fluency of our playing. Refer to the section on shoulder biomechanics.
Common injuries of the wrist and hand
For most guitarists the main problem with the hand will be fatigue and the inevitable cramping that follows when we play through it. The left hand tends to suffer more because pressing onto the fretboard requires more work from the muscle.
The main causes are related to technique, excess tension in the hand and simply playing too much. The most immediate problem is that your playing is severely restricted, there is no way you can play your instrument fluently if there is excess myofascial tension in your hand, arm or shoulder.
