((PKG)) HEALING MUSICIANS
((Banner: Healing Musicians))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
Four out of five musicians who play an instrument will get injured during their career at least once.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
I've had pain in my arm before, here, but it’s never been in my wrist area before and I've gotten bruising, quite a few times now, in the same place in my hand.
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
One will recover and get back merrily to playing their instrument. Of the remaining three, two will continue playing but will have chronic problems with acute episodes along the way. And unfortunately one will discontinue their art because of injury.
((NATS))
((Sarah Hoover, Associate Dean, Peabody Conservatory))
Musicians suffer injury and pain at very high rates. And that this is really, really a form of suffering.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
Coming here and, you know, telling my teacher, like okay I’m getting pain in my wrist, like I can’t play, like this is starting to hurt a lot and him being so concerned, I never was like that before. Like, I was always just kind of brushed it off, you know, like oh, it’s probably nothing. But, so he was like, okay, well, you need to go and get this checked out because it was a different kind of pain which I’ve never experienced before.
((NATS))
((Trainer))
You really want to avoid any pressure on your elbow.
((NATS))
((Sarah Hoover, Peabody Conservatory Associate Dean))
We need to have better tools to address, better strategies for helping to educate musicians in ways that they can be, avoid injuries, and how we can respond to injuries when they do occur.
((NATS))
((Serap Bastepe-Gray, Co-Founder, Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine))
That nerve in this position is bent right here, so it's under pressure. So, if you’re spending eight hours like this, before you know, you’ll have issues. I came up with this idea of Smart Guitar and the smart, Peabody Smart Instrument Series, which will be able to measure the forces, finger forces on the entire fretboard so that we can get better data. I think it would be valuable in training musicians with evidence based pedagogy so that they can develop certain motor skills more quickly without a lot of repetition, which repetition is also one of the occupational hazards.
((NATS))
((Chelsea Strayer, Student, Peabody Conservatory))
I think one of just my biggest mistakes is playing through pain. But two, I think we didn’t realize that I had like, some, you know, health issues with, you know, thinking that there might be blood clotting in my hand, you know, so, like I think that that really helped to, you know, bring awareness to this, just to like, bigger overarching problems to be aware of, you know, and if something happens then…or, if like those symptoms where you show up, we at least kind of know what it is and how to deal with it.
((NATS))
