Musician Ergonomics

Musicians come in a variety of flavors, you have wind instruments such as a trombone to which one shoulder is flexed forward frequently, to percussion instruments that involve a lot of frequent dynamic upper and lower extremity movements. So, this blog is about the basics of ergonomics that can be applied to whatever instrument you play. If you don’t have close to excellent ergonomics, you have a chance of incurring a cumulative injury that can get you cut from the band! We will discuss primarily the shoulder this time.

To properly apply ergonomics, we must have a degree of physical awareness. Think about body mechanics and posture. People have a hard time to be aware of slight changes to which if you find this to be especially challenging, you may want to consider an ergonomic consultant to help. Your body will need to be trained once you have developed a plan forward, to alter your habits and positions. Even if you make a change that will have a long-term change for the better, our body can protest by sending signals about tension, pulling, or aching to these new positions.

The body has an amazing ability to adapt itself to the environment and positions it is placed into. It is good to question our normal positions, such as sitting, to find the optimal position for each given activity. Let’s start with the shoulder blade positioning. There are several muscles around the shoulder blade helping to keep the shoulder in a functional position. When the thoracic spine is curved into flexion (kyphosis), the shoulders fall forwards and the shoulder blades slip away from the spine. Since the shoulder blade supports and reinforces the whole arm. The better the position of the shoulder blade, the hand will be able to deal with the instrument with ease. This depends on the shoulder blade finding the correct position. The shoulder’s pliability the muscles stabilize both the shoulder blades and the shoulder joint, an imbalance can arise. When problems are felt in the hand and the arm, the root is found farther up in the shoulder or the shoulder blade.

When you have an instrument that requires you to hold it up with your arms continuously, the musician shall make a best effort to have their shoulders and arms supported by the person’s frame. The way to achieve this is to have the weight of the arm be plumb under the shoulder. To stabilize the shoulder blade the person must first hold arms out in front of the body and feel the sensations of weight, support, and stability. Sit or stand in a stable position with the arms falling by your sides and then rotate the arms out from the shoulder blades so that the thumbs point outwards and the palms forwards. As the shoulders lift, curve the thoracic spine up towards the ears and let the shoulders sink slowly and consciously to achieve the neutral position.