Symptoms
Whether it is in the form of singing or playing a musical instrument, a musician’s performance can be physically challenging. Vocal problems include pain or discomfort when speaking or difficulty controlling the pitch, loudness, or quality of your voice. Other symptoms that may indicate vocal problems are a low, raspy, or rough voice, hoarseness that continues for 2-3 weeks, trouble swallowing or breathing, coughing or choking when you swallow, and frequent throat clearing or the sensation that you have a lump in your throat. Musician injuries vary depending on the instrument played and how it’s played.
Causes of Vocal Health/Musician Injuries –
Demanding compositions, sustained postures, and the repetitive nature of practice routines and performance can place repeated and prolonged stresses on the body. The physical demands on the body are often heightened by the fact that many musicians continue to play their instrument despite experiencing symptoms of pain. Repetitive stress injuries, stress induced illness, pain while playing, and neck tension leading to vocal distress are all common causes that lead to vocal and musician injuries.
How to Get Relief
Manual therapy interventions are found to be very beneficial for vocal health and other musician injuries. Dr. Steve Kravitz provides a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare using techniques of joint mobilization, deep tissue mobilization, and muscular retraining that is uniquely tailored to relieve patient’s specific problems overtime. Each treatment is gentle and non-invasive, focusing on releasing the tension and discomfort and aiding in ultimate relief.The benefits from treatment can strengthen the functioning of our nervous system, increase circulation throughout our body, and improve the way our organs work.
Steve Kravitz Physical Therapy treats both vocal health and musician injuries. If you are interested in our program, please contact our Nashville, TN office today.