Tendonitis

[Ra Byn James Taylor]

I read your email & have a suggestion that you are more than welcome to post
if you like.

After befriending a guy who not only works on 42 different NHL players &
more than 10 world champion recordholding athletes I have learned much about
how to deal with ailments such as tendonitis.

Here is an example:

Forearm trouble - what is happening is the muscles in your forearm are over
tightening. To explain, position your arm in front of you so that you are
looking at the palm of your hand. Now flex your hand back toward the floor &
then toward your chest keeping your arm in the same position. Now you have a
sense of the range of motion & if there is any discomfort at either range
extreme.

If you did this for a while you might get some relief but most likely you
would stop before any real results occur.

So what needs to happen is these muscles that are over tight must be gently
stretched. They won't get any real stretch from flexing your hand without
some outside help.

This is where the other hand comes into play.

If you'll grip your forearm about 2 inches away from your elbow joint with
your opposite hand & flex the other hand toward your chest you will be
shortening the top forearm muscles. Now while they are short, apply a light
downward pressure with your thumb & fingers while you slowly flex your hand
away from you. This is putting resistence against the forearm muscles that
have been shortening. As they elongate the pressure applied by the opposite
hand will in essence simulate a bigger range of motion & loosen the muscles
that are causing the problem. 10 or twenty time on each forearn & you should
feel adifference if you're doing it correctly.

To explain in a more universal way...........

For every muscle that contracts there is a muscle that counters the
contraction.

Example : bicep & tricep - one shortens while the other elongates & vice
versa

So by applying a slight downward pressure  to the shortened muscle you are
adding resistence which will stretch the muscle as it flexed toward its
elongated position more than you could by just flexing it back & forth.

The same thing goes for any part of your body.

Most people rub parts of ther pbdy that is giving them problems. This might
feel good but doesn't solve the problem like over stretching the muscles
involved will.

The nice thing about this technique is the fact that you control how much it
hurts while you are doing it to yourself.

I hope this makes sense. If not I'll try some again. In some circles its
called ART for Active Release Therapy. This is the technique the Olympic
athletes use to get the most out of their training.

By the way, If done correctly......there is absolutely no justification for
surgery. NONE.

If you need some further help, let me know & I'll give you the name of my
friend & maybe he can explain it better.........

Sincerely,

ra byn james









-----Original Message-----
From: PDtek@AOL.COM <PDtek@AOL.COM>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 9:29 p
Subject: Tendonitis


>
>This isn't the first time, but it's back. Tendonitis in my "key pounding"
>hand and wrist. I try to hold it down to four pianos a day, but it just
>flares up now and again. I would like to alternate more with shop work, but
>sometimes its just all tuning.
>
>I give my hand a rest and move it around a few times during tunings and try
>not to pound any harder than I need to but I can't shake it.
>
>Does anyone know of any effective therapy that would help? (Professional or
>self.) I could see how strength training would help but seems like it might
>just irritate an area that was already prone to injury. I enjoy my
avocation
>as a musician and fear that I may eventually sacrifice mobility in my hand.
>
>I would appreciate any suggestions.
>
>By the way, I figure that I have tuned about 12,000 pianos. Could this be
the
>beginning of the end? I hope not.
>
>Dave Bunch
>
>