Klarinet Archive - Posting 000686.txt from 2001/03

From: "Diane Karius" <Dkarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] The spirit is willing but the lip is weak! -
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 13:00:41 -0500

>>> kiritz@-----.net 03/27/01 10:12AM >>>
Diane,
My question for you is: is it possible that playing for too long after =
not playing much could fatigue the muscles to the extent that it takes =
several weeks to recover? I was going along playing in 20-30 minute =
sessions several times a day with no problem until about 2 weeks ago when =
I played with an accompanist for about 50 minutes. By the end of that =
session, which was very focussed, my chops were gone.

It is possible to do that, but the issue isn't that you merely =
fatigued the muscles - with the time course you're describing it is more =
likely that the intensity of the session actually damaged the muscle and =
you're having to deal with the healing (two - three weeks is about the =
average for complete healing to occur). =20
You're probably more used to think of this phenomona as it relates =
to the larger muscle groups - intense exercise that produced soreness =
that was worse over the next few days is indicative of that damage (I'm =
not talking about the temporary burning sensation during exercise, but the =
lasting kind). If we did a chemical analysis on your blood over those few =
days, we'd see a lot of enzymes (particularly creatinine kinase of the MM =
type) that have been spilled into the blood from the damaged muscle cells. =
Over the course of 2 - 3 weeks the muscles would heal. In the large =
muscle groups, you can generally resume some level of exercise after the =
acute pain period because there is still a lot of muscle that is in good =
shape (unless you had really seriously overdone it and damaged a large =
amount of muscle). =20
With the small mass of the lip musculature, we wouldn't have seen =
those changes in the blood, but I suspect that's also why its so slow to =
come back to full strength - there isn't enough "extra" muscle there to =
take over the very fine control needed to produce a embouchure, so the =
healing muscle fatigues rapidly.
I'm somewhat surprised that a 50 minutes continuous session did this =
when you'd been practicing 20 - 30 minute blocks at least a few times a =
day. I suspect that you were also biting a bit more than usual to come =
into tune with the piano (or that you started biting as your lip fatigued) =
and that extra effort was what did your lip in...=20
It sounds like you're doing what any athlete would do to recover - =
shorter blocks of practicing. Your best bet is probably to stop those =
short blocks of practicing just prior to when your embouchure begins to =
fail (to avoid biting etc...), take a break and then repeat the process.

Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.=20
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
1750 Independence Ave.=20
Kansas City, MO 64106
(816)-283-2219
dkarius@-----.edu
www.uhsweb.edu/physio

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