- As an expert in arts medicine, I have a couple pieces
of advice for young musicians who want to have a long
and healthy career.
First of all, remember you are athletes.
You're not a musician, only you're an athlete.
Well, what do I mean by that?
Musicians are small muscle athletes.
We think of athletes that using their arms and their legs;
Big muscles to do athletic things.
But actually as a musician,
you're using usually your fingers and your arms,
sometimes your feet, to do very long muscular activity.
And that makes you an athlete.
The way that our hands and arms are wired
are that they are supported by our body.
And so you must treat your other instrument.
You have your instrument you take care of
and there's your body you have to take care of.
Your mother told you most of this:
Enough sleep, good hygiene, you know,
Right kind of food, nice relationships, reduced stress.
All those sorts of things.
But you also need to work out regularly to stay strong
and fit, so that you can have a long career.
If you've been kind of a person who just only
did their musical work and didn't do any athletic work
as a teenager, you've got some making up to do.
The second point is, the things that you do
for recreation and exercise should be fun.
Otherwise, nobody sticks to them if it's awful and boring.
Should not use the same muscle groups
that you use when you're playing your instrument.
So, we want to do things that allow the muscles that open us
up and go backwards to work.
For example, swimming is great
especially the backstroke. Running is fine,
but remember to run backwards as well.
So the bottom line lesson is you're going to
always need to be stretching your front,
and strengthening behind you.