Pipers' Health

[ausdag]

Do you play the pipes? Do you get pains in your fingers, arms, shoulders and neck. Do you get symptoms similar to carpal tunnel syndrome – tingling in the thumb, index and middle fingers? Don’t immediately assume the problem is in your hands!

A few months ago I posted a thread concerning problems I was having with pains in my arms, shoulders and hands. Any piper who experiences pain in these areas naturally becomes quite anxious about what is happening and whether it may spell an end to their piping career. To recap, it began when I noticed that after half an hour or so of practice I began to feel pains in my shoulders. This pain disappeared after practice, but would reappear the next day’s practice. I gave myself a rest of about a week and resumed the following week to see it there was any improvement. After about five minutes, I bent down to pick something off the floor and received a sharp jolt of pain from my shoulder down my arm and into my ring finger. This was followed by about half an hour of tingling in my finger.

Perplexed by this, I visited my chiropractor. He was able to provide some relief and put a stop to the tingling in my hands by freeing up a nerve in my shoulder area. However, this was not the end of my troubles. The pain in my shoulder worsened and eventually my other arm started to experience the same symptoms. Funny thing was, I had not resumed doing any piping since the jolt experience. I went to the chiropractor a second time, but the relief was only temporary. I went to my doctor and he thought based on the fact that I was also actively swimming in my backyard pool that I had developed an irritation in my rotator cuffs – the bits in the shoulders where the arm is held in place by muscles. He sent me to a sports physiotherapist who gave me some shoulder strengthening exercises to perform. This seemed to have positive results until one afternoon I had to do a bit of practice at the physio’s recommendation just to see if there was any improvement. Certainly the shoulder pain was subsiding, but all of a sudden I found that I could not play the chanter for more than five minutes without both of my thumbs beginning to burn severely. After a few days I realised that the physio’s exercises must have been causing my grief in my thumbs. I stopped going to the phyiso – he thought the pain was simply my muscles being unused to doing the exercises. I said it felt more like carpal tunnel or something.

I was perplexed. My thumbs continued to burn, but my index finger and middle fingers where fine. My wrist was also painful at times as was my forearm and ‘snuffbox’ (the indentation at the base of the thumb on the side of the wrist. Anyone hearing these symptoms might immediately suspect carpal tunnel or other condition located in the hand. A doctor might even suggest surgery.

I began reading widely – there was no way in hell that I was going to give up the pipes. My research led me to a little known condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. In a nutshell, the muscles running down the neck join onto the first and second rib and run through the armpit down the arms and into the hands and fingers. If there is congestion in these muscles a wild variety of symptoms can be manifest in other parts of the body, particularly the arms and hands including the classic symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome. Congestion in these muscles can be caused by poor posture, forward head position, raised shoulders, and repetitive movements. Sound familiar? Have a look at photos of pipers and how many do you see slouching over their pipes, bag shoulder raised higher than looks comfortable?

I found some resources on the web including a book on something called ‘Trigger Point Therapy’ and also a six-week program in stretching designed to release muscles in the thoracic area – ‘myofascial release’. I had to make a financial outlay of about AU$60 all up for these, but I could also spend the same amount on one visit to a chiropractor.

I began to do the stretching exercises. Whilst I had pain in my arms and hands, the exercises concentrated on the muscles in and around the shoulders and neck. After a week I started to notice a definite improvement. Not only had the tightness running up my neck to just behind my ear begin to disappear, but the burning in my thumbs started to disappear also.

At the advice of another C&F member – Goldy, I also made and appointment with an Osteopath, although not a cranial osteopath that Goldy had recommended. She was very helpful in that she listened to everything I had to say, even the experiences with my new stretching program. She encouraged me to continue. Her therapy consisted of releasing the muscles between my ribs which were restricting my breathing, and the muscles in my armpits which where tight as knotted ropes. All this I'd say a result of a decade or more of piping as well as general poor posture.

I’m happy to report that after only two weeks of myofacial release exercises and a bit of Osteo, I now can play the pipes again without my thumbs beginning to burn. I no longer have shoulder pain or tingling. When my arms or thumbs do begin to feel tight or painful again, I lie down on the floor and perform torso twist stretching which can be felt stretching the muscles right along the length of my arms from the chest, through the armpits down to my fingertips.

I’m happy to say, I’m positive about my prospects for full recovery. If anyone is interested in finding out more on Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, or the resources I used to overcome my problem, you can PM me or send an email to ausdag@iprimus.com.au. Whilst I have had great success with these resources, I do not wish to make any claim that they will be of benefit to others. Nor do I receive any payment or favours for promoting these resources. This is based simply on my desire to see other musicians become aware of their options should they suffer the same types of symptoms that I have been.

Cheers,

DavidG

[Tony]

David, I know these types of pains.
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 25595f6717

Last year when boarding up houses for hurricanes (lifting sheets of plywood over the 2nd floor balcony in windy weather) I totally reversed the healing process I had been going through. I've been to see an Orthopaedic surgeon, had an MRI, been thru weeks of physical therapy, had 3 different prescriptions of muscle relaxers, 2 different pain relevers with no success.
I saw a neurologist who gave me samples of Bextra... took 20mg for 10 days and the pain was gone!
For the most part I'm off the medicine doing light stretching and exercises. I played pipes for a few minutes and it was like starting over with hand cramps and strains. The next day my neck and shoulder was bothering me. So... it's back to piping hiatus.

[djm]

Good info for anyone suffering from similar symptoms caused by poor general posture. If you don't mind the suggestion, here's an organization who can also give you some similar assistance in the land of Oz: http://www.taoist.org/english/directory ... 76715894b7

djm

[ausdag]

Hi Tony,

Sorry to hear you're having problems too. The trouble is, most doctors, Orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists and many massage therapists don't know much about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and/or Myofascial Release. Let me know if you want to know more as per what I wrote at the end of my post.

Cheers,

DavidG

[Tony]

Trigger Point Therapy... had that after my first car accident. Conventional therapy wasn't working. Pain and spasms were too much to deal with. I was given a phone number of a blind physical therapist. His specialty was neuro-muscular massage. Talk about pain. I never gave out more than my name, rank and serial number.

Myofascial release... had that too. Good to releive stress headaches.

Funny thing, my girlfriend runs an acupuncture & physical therapy clinic. When I was really bad she gave me therapy as much as 3 times a week including ultrasound. I'm down to once or twice a month... she wants me to do more exercise to overcome the pains.

[ausdag]

The good thing is, apart from the two visits to the osteopath, the myofascial release is all self-help therapy - something I do twice a day. No need to see the therapist. You don't necessarily feel the results as quickly as you may after a bout with a therapist but it sure starts to feel good after a week or so. The trigger-point therapy is totally self-help as well. Great for the pocket.

[tommykleen]

I have avoided these maladies by having a wife, a small child, four cats/two dogs and an old house that needs alot of work.

I dream of practicing for a half hour straight!

t

[Joseph E. Smith]

I've got it pretty good, my wife is a nationally certified Massage Therapist who simply LOVES to inflict severe pain on me any time, anywhere.

[Jay-eye]

I'm hoping I'll have to play for many more years before I start getting finger/shoulder/whatever trouble, but I do wonder about my ears. UP's are a bit loud, aren't they, and I did notice after an hour and a half or so playing t'other night I had a bit of a buzz going. Not as bad as after listening to heavy rock as a teenager, though!

j.i.

[Joseph E. Smith]

I'm hoping I'll have to play for many more years before I start getting finger/shoulder/whatever trouble, but I do wonder about my ears. UP's are a bit loud, aren't they, and I did notice after an hour and a half or so playing t'other night I had a bit of a buzz going. Not as bad as after listening to heavy rock as a teenager, though!

j.i.

I'm willing to bet that listening to loud rock as a kid has a lot to do with how you react to noise today....has me. The GHBs are considerably louder.

[Jay-eye]

Yeah, I probably overdosed on the GHB's as a teenager too, Joseph. It all had a part to play I'm sure. I remember vibrating the windows in my bedroom like mad with either pipes or trombone or electric guitar.

Maybe now I should wear earplugs during practice - like the rest of my family do!

j.i.

[Douglas]

Thanks for the update Ausdag. I remember you mentioning that you were feeling better and was wondering if things were still looking up.

I do understand some of the frustration in trying medical help and getting nowhere. I have an Autistic son, luckily mildly so. He is extremely intelligent and the sweetest kid you have seen but his language is a big problem. Most doctors have been more harm than good.

My wife and I have had to do so much research over the last year and a half to figure this out. We finally have a good pediatrician for him, after we had figured a lot of this out. He is getting better know and as long as he continues to improve he will be fine. Oddly most of it is diet related.

My daughter, the "normal one" is the one that really worries me.

[ausdag]

Hi Douglas,

I'm glad to hear you seem to be getting positive results with your son. It's amazing what a bit of research on our part can uncover with regards to health. Trouble is, most MDs are actually quite limited in their range of medical knowledge I guess simply because they don't have the time to keep up-to-date with everything. I suppose that's what specialists are for. Sounds like you've hit on an understanding pediatrician.

And yes, you'd be surprised at just what sorts of things are diet-related.

You said - "My daughter, the "normal one" is the one that really worries me."

Yep - those 'normal' daughters can be a real handful. I'm expecting my first one (first child that is, but we know it's a girl) this May.
Cheers,

DavidG

[brianc]

I have avoided these maladies by having a wife, a small child, four cats/two dogs and an old house that needs alot of work.

I dream of practicing for a half hour straight!

t

Hear, hear!

And I'm without the cats & dogs, and our house is relatively new. Where in the world does the time go?

[Steampacket]

"I'm hoping I'll have to play for many more years before I start getting finger/shoulder/whatever trouble, but I do wonder about my ears. UP's are a bit loud, aren't they, and I did notice after an hour and a half or so playing t'other night I had a bit of a buzz going." Jay-Eye.

I'd close that reed up a bit, loud pipes are a pain unless the piper can really play well, which is often not the case, and even then it's not worth damaging your hearing