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Hi all - This is my first time posting in one of these threads, but I wanted to add a couple thoughts to the discussion. Permit me to give a little of my non-lute background: I am a doctor of Chinese medicine (acupuncture and herbal medicine, as well as massage/Qi Gong/tai ji, etc.), and am located in Bloomington, IN, where I treat not infrequently both students and faculty of the Jacobs School of Music here at Indiana University for "overuse" injuries. Two thoughts in particular come to mind. The first is that we do have small muscles between the bones of the hand to pull the fingers together (like for a military salute), and these may be complaining due to overuse. However, the biggest challenge to regaining facility on the lute is that the ligaments between the fingers will have to stretch. Tensions and ligaments don't have their own blood supply, and make changes (including healing) very, VERY gradually. To rush this process is to court long-term problems. (And as much as we like to think we are learning a great deal about techniques and strategies from 400 years ago, we can't know how many gifted lutenists of several centuries back either had to give up their instruments or play in significant pain due to overuse injuries.) The second thing is that almost all our activity in this age is limited to very small ranges of motion: driving a car, typing on the computer, etc. We were designed to throw spears, jump rivers, and climb trees. Our miniscule movements, without any broader movements, stress our fine-motor structures, and cause injury. It is only a slight oversimplification to say that our primary need in being able to play lute without pain is to exercise our whole bodies in such a way as to strengthen our cores, then to pay attention to the signals our bodies send to us. Tai ji, Qi Gong, and yoga are all great strategies for building that core strength and range of motion. As for your hand(s), go gently, and apply a good linement and combine rest with moderate massage to address achy ligaments. â£all the best, David ------F58A74111488PI3NN6NKG4UP5SST4D Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir="auto">Hi all -<br><br></div> <div dir="auto">This is my first time posting in one of these threads, but I wanted to add a couple thoughts to the discussion.<br><br></div> <div dir="auto">Permit me to give a little of my non-lute background: I am a doctor of Chinese medicine (acupuncture and herbal medicine, as well as massage/Qi Gong/tai ji, etc.), and am located in Bloomington, IN, where I treat not infrequently both students and faculty of the Jacobs School of Music here at Indiana University for "overuse" injuries.<br><br></div> <div dir="auto">Two thoughts in particular come to mind. The first is that we do have small muscles between the bones of the hand to pull the fingers together (like for a military salute), and these may be complaining due to overuse. However, the biggest challenge to regaining facility on the lute is that the ligaments between the fingers will have to stretch. Tensions and ligaments don't have their own blood supply, and make changes (including healing) very, VERY gradually. To rush this process is to court long-term problems. (And as much as we like to think we are learning a great deal about techniques and strategies from 400 years ago, we can't know how many gifted lutenists of several centuries back either had to give up their instruments or play in significant pain due to overuse injuries.)<br><br></div> <div dir="auto">The second thing is that almost all our activity in this age is limited to very small ranges of motion: driving a car, typing on the computer, etc. We were designed to throw spears, jump rivers, and climb trees. Our miniscule movements, without any broader movements, stress our fine-motor structures, and cause injury. It is only a slight oversimplification to say that our primary need in being able to play lute without pain is to exercise our whole bodies in such a way as to strengthen our cores, then to pay attention to the signals our bodies send to us. <br><br></div> <div dir="auto">Tai ji, Qi Gong, and yoga are all great strategies for building that core strength and range of motion. As for your hand(s), go gently, and apply a good linement and combine rest with moderate massage to address achy ligaments.<br><br></div> <div dir="auto"><!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->all the best,<!-- tmjah_g_1299e --><br><br></div> <div dir="auto"><!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->David<!-- tmjah_g_1299e --><br></div> <div dir="auto"><img src="cid:ii_713a47597632414f" width="569" height="161"><!-- tmjah_g_1299s --><!-- tmjah_g_1299e --></div> ------F58A74111488PI3NN6NKG4UP5SST4D-- -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
