The danger of over-practicing

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The danger of over-practicing - focal dystonia

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Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

The danger of over-practicing - foca...

Even if you are conscious of things like good posture, avoiding tension, keeping a straight wrist etc, etc, there are risks if you over-practice a particular technique that involves fine repetitive movements, and flamenco has these by the truckload.

I came across this fairly recent post on the usenet group alt.music.flamenco. The two flamenco players concerned have the same condition I have: focal hand dystonia. It is poorly understood, even by health professionals, but classical guitarists are a little more aware of it as it comes up occasionally on the different CG forums, and at least one internationally known player (David Leisener) has had it and written about it.

I will bet that there are many other flamenco players out there who have this, but are unaware of it, or who were mis-diagnosed as having sme other RSI type problem.

Anyway, I ocasionally post about this condition to raise awareness. Here's the link, get informed about this and practice safely, this is not a condition that you can necessarily recover from:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?F563120C8

Jon

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 8 2004 9:28:55

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: The danger of over-practicing - ... (in reply to Jon Boyes)

Thanks for the info Jon. Myself, I have really gone away from repetive practicing for the most part, and try to take a more cerebral attitude. Although it seems some things would need the repetition to master. How is your progress on the condition?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 8 2004 19:56:30

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: The danger of over-practicing - ... (in reply to Miguel de Maria)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Miguel de Maria
How is your progress on the condition?

Zero, or too small over time to be noticeable. Many people with the condition either swap over to left-handed (because plucking and fingering require different combinations of motor skills) and re-learn the instrument from scratch, or try and find alternative technique solutions using the fingers that do function normally. I opt for the latter, though it does mean lots of time is spent going down blind alleys - eg. working on things that feel promising at the start but are difficult to get to any useful speed.
Jon

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 9 2004 8:45:01