Klarinet Archive - Posting 000964.txt from 1997/02

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.COM>
Subj: Another carpal tunnel book (was: male & female players)
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 13:13:21 -0500

Another book to add to the one Diane mentions is Sharon J. Butler,
Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive Strain Injuries,
published by New Harbinger Publications, Oakland CA, $17.95 ($26.95 Can.).
I've been using the book off and on about a month (I have carpal tunnel
syndrome in my right wrist and coming on in my left, the result of
combining clarinet playing with lots of computer use in my law practice),
and the exercises are useful, though I'm a bit sceptical of the
physiological analysis she gives. The book has lots of exercises, and
Butler gives suggestions about which exercises help which conditions. Some
of the exercises are quite good and as far as I know not available
elsewhere. The explanations and drawings of the exercises are generally
clear, though I've still to figure out a few. Any book store should be
able to order this book (doubtful they'll have it in stock, even at Borders
or the like). I got mine from Amazon online.

After reading the carpal tunnel string a few months back, I got myself a
neck strap. So far I'm unimpressed, but I'm going to give it another try.

As to the comment of another contributor that physical frailty (not his
word, but I think the intent) accounts for the fact that there are fewer
professional women clarinetists: (1) Is it obvious that there are fewer
professional women clarinetists? Does anyone really know? (How do you
define "professional" for this purpose? Presumably in terms of getting
paid to play -- but do people who pick up some cash doing the odd gig count
as professional?) If you judged on the basis of Madison, Wisconsin, where
I live, you would conclude that there are at least as many professional
women clarinetists, including the fine clarinetists Linda Bartley and Nancy
Mackenzie. (2) If there are fewer professional women clarinetists, there
are some really obvious social-economic-ideological causes of that -- we
don't need to invent physiological explanations.
----------
From: Diane Karius, Ph.D.[SMTP:dikarius@-----.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 1997 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: male & female players

Regarding the question on how to prevent/minimize the occurrence of carpal
tunnel and other related repetitive strain injuries in musicians:
there are several excellent books that outline a series of stretching
exercises which I (and others) have found to be very effective (I have
developed a raging case of medial epicondylitis (aka tennis elbow) that is
aggravated by computer use, clarinet and guitar). One of these is
entitled "Repetitive Strain Injury" (subtitle: a computer User's
guide) by E. Pascarelli, M.D. and D. Quilter. It is published by
Wiley and costs about $15.00. This book actually mentions the fact
that musicians are prone to such disorders. I know of no book
specifically designed with the musician in mind - but I haven't had
time to really investigate that.
I know several clarinet players who have developed carpal tunnel
syndrome in their right hands (this most commonly occurs in the dominant
hand). Most have them have found that to minimize symptoms (or to be
able to play at all) they must use a neck strap so the weight of the
clarinet is not on the right thumb. They also wear the wrist
brace(s) while playing. I should note that most of these people have
jobs
that are strongly linked to the developement of carpal tunnel syndrome, so
it
seems likely that the clarinet was one more aggravation to the
condition, rather than the primary cause of the condition. Since
I'm left handed, my problems are in my left arm and there's not much
I can do about the bend of my elbow while playing clarinet. I wear a
tennis
elbow brace whenever I play clarniet to minimize the strain
on my elbow. If it gets painful, I apply ice packs immediately after
playing and take an anti-inflammatory (any aspirin-related product -
I have found naproxen (related to the over-the-counter Alleve) or
ibruprofen
to be particularly effective).
sorry this is so long - I hope it helps.
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU

   
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