Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
Your experience with / thoughts on bevels and / or armrests
Ergonomical posture, technique and economizing provided the classical guitar shape, considering its simplicity, shows surprisingly well fitting to the limbs. ( Whilst without suiting technique though, being hell of an awkward, twisting and warping, tensioning device.)
Yet, like with our own body, it is not perfect. ( Idle motoric imperfections of our body being the knees and the atlas, in case of you wondering.)
The knee of the classical guitar in my opinion ought to be some whereabouts concerning the right arm. One of them being being a relatively sharp bouts edge as rest for the lower arm, which is suboptimal and worse over the course of hour long sessions. Nothing terribly peeving that couldn´t be endured; yet: Any easening will accomodate sensational focus on actual execution requirements / in the end be freeing more supportive reserves than possibly expected.
You know, like the stress of a noisy environment that you will hardly consciously perceive while dealing with something, until the moment of relief when the actual interference becomes evident with cease.
In regard of this matter I have been eying bevels in the way of Grit Laskin´s since the time when he introduced them, expecting a nicely handy feature.
Having not tried them out yet however, Andrew Culpepper ( who has actually built bevels on demand) brought to my attention that a bevel will be further shortening the distance between rest and `plucking area´between soundhole and bridge and lowering your arm. A valuable objection indeed, with that distance commonly being rather short already.
From there his hint that a distance extending / elevating build like with arm rests should perform rather ergonomically, sounds very plausible to me.
Actually, I own that arm rest with suction cups shown in the photo below. Found that one already distinctively accomodating, eventhough I wished that it would be designed with a flat section ( like above shown bevels ) instead of simply a rounded edge. Another advantage noticable with such a rest is that it frees the top from your lower arm, letting the guitar resonate more freely ( as auditors used to note as well ). The main reason why I am not using that rest since a long time now is that you need to use an oversized guitar case to have guitar plus arm rest fit in.
I would appreciate elegant solutions ( together with a warded case if necessary ) providing nice broad resting section. Andrew besides has implented arm rests already. Unfortunately, though his blog is blocked from here. Maybe someone else or Andy himself can upload a picture so that I might have a look at his design.
Also it would be interesting to read of experiences with thelike features whether by players or luthiers.
Thanks!
Ruphus
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
I recently got the one with the internal support (Luva Hard), and I found it a bit difficult to adjust to. It felt too awkward for me, but I have to say I didn't give it enough time, and I might go back to trying it. It is now being used as an arm pad for when I am using the computer mouse to prevent carpal tunnel symptoms, and it's working great.
I plan on getting the Luva Soft to see how it will work...
Attached are the photos you are looking for.
Cheers!
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
Hi Ramzi,
Thank you for the kind support wit the pics! These look like the preparation of his bevel. The pics regarding his arm rest would be more interesting to me.
I have not tried the matepis product, and it does rather look like a symptomatic approach. ( I am glad to read that it gives you relief with the mouse, though. Mousing [ and type writing ] seem real challenges; and I believe to have substantially established my focal dystonia through years with an over sensitive right button of a mouse that required my a fingers constant extend.)
If you want to get rid of the CTS for good have a look at my corresponding thread. http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=175760&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=carpal%2Ctunnel&tmode=&smode=&s=#176159 It too is held in my way of describing, but once getting the gist you will be very surprised of how fast and efficiently a healing process can be. ( - And experiencing the working principle behind it shouldn´t be hurting your medical career - in regard of muscular based issues - either. In fact it is amazing how little spread such a very elementary background of function is.)
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
quote:
Thank you for the kind support wit the pics! These look like the preparation of his bevel. The pics regarding his arm rest would be more interesting to me.
I believe this is all Andy has on this topic, unless he has done other stuff which I have not seen. He might chime in here and help us out.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
Thanks for putting those up Ramzi... They're in reverse order, from bottom to top on each set was my process. I think the Snakewood bevel was pretty sexy actually.
I never got to test out the pickup system because the guy wouldn't send me one of the weird cables it needed
If I were doing it again I would shape the insert differently.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
I have watched quite a few professional flamenco guitarists in action over the last five decades. They ranged from Melchor de Marchena, Perico el del Lunar and Sabicas to Paco and our own Ricardo. I must have seen more than a hundred, maybe hundreds.
As I reported before at some length, they all, without exception, held the guitar in a way where the edge formed by the top and the side made only the lightest contact with the arm, if any at all, at the inside of the elbow joint, so that it caused no problem.
They did this by placing the inside of the upper arm flat against the side of the guitar. This left the elbow joint free to move through its full range of motion and left the forearm free to rotate, as in abanico. A bevel of the kind shown would present another sharp edge to avoid. An arm rest of the kind shown would be disastrous.
Classical players, on the other hand, mostly rest the middle of the forearm on the sharp edge. If their particular anatomy makes them susceptible to pinched nerves or cutoff of circulation, a bevel or armrest might seem to be helpful. Playing classical, my arm rests lightly enough on the edge not to be a problem. Tipping the face of the guitar a little toward the ceiling, so the weight of the left arm can hold the firetting fingers against the strings, instead of the thumb, makes the right forearm more parallel to the top, also relieving pressure of the edge.
The Assad brothers here are an exception to the usual classical position. They put their upper arms flat on the guitar sides. (The spoken introduction in Portuguese doesn't last long.)
Here's Odair Assad, playing classical in the old school flamenco position. Again, an armrest would be a serious detriment.
At an L. A. Guitar Quartet concert here in Austin a couple of weeks ago, Scott Tennant played in the same position as Odair. No armrest. The most impressive sound and technique of the four.
But if an armrest. bevel or other appliance suits your style, far be it from me to tell you that you're doing it wrong. Whatever floats your boat....May you all play in good health.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Richard Jernigan)
I agree with you, RNJ. The position you describe works GREAT for me with all techniques, save for the mischievous picado which I find works better for me when I raise my forearm up from the shoulder somewhat so that the middle of my forearm is resting on the guitar's edge. Because I am sensitive in terms of nerves in that area, this becomes problematic with spending time in that position while practicing. If I try adapting the same posture as for all other techniques with picado, it doesn't feel very comfortable to me. Maybe I should work on that more and it might work, or just simply, I suck.
The other issue is that with the traditional position (which I now achieve with the GuitaRest Trio support), I need to raise my forearm/shoulder a bit more than while sitting cross-legged, and that is creating some neck issues. So the fiddling continues to find the best position, etc.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
ORIGINAL: rombsix
I agree with you, RNJ. The position you describe works GREAT for me with all techniques, save for the mischievous picado which I find works better for me when I raise my forearm up from the shoulder somewhat so that the middle of my forearm is resting on the guitar's edge.
Doesn't Paco's forearm remain parallel to the guitar top when he does picado, avoiding pressing on the edge? Of course he seldom remains in that position for more than a few seconds. He put in the hours of practice it took to attain his astonishing speed while still playing in the old school position. He already had it before he changed. But the biggest factor I see in Paco's present position is that it lets him lift his upper arm off the guitar for picado on the bass strings.
Posts: 407
Joined: Oct. 10 2010
From: Wooli, NSW Australia
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
A less than elegant technique I have used is to roll up a cloth nappy and shove it in my right pocket . This way I could play cross legged style without crossing my legs also allowing the upper arm to sit more comfortably on the top side of the guitar (the idea didn't get much mileage ). Just looking at rombs profile picture you can see there is no pressure on the top edge . As has been said .
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
Ramzi,
I offered you a fast lead out of the carpal tunnel syndrom, without symptomatic treats like ointments or surgery, but you may as well ignore it. -
Whether flamenco or classical, you would not want your lower arm to be freely swinging all the time. Two of the reasons are: # The constant antagone efforts taken to provide a hands starting position on hight of the sound hole. ( From there not only Ramzi´s experience with tucked up / tensioned shoulder, further neck etc.) # The fact that such posture results in a poise of externally / clock wise twisting wrist, while ergonomy requests the opposite direction ( turning inside / against the clock ).
Further a guitarist levering at the middle of his lower arm will be counter producing, with his hand in poise lifting up and ayway from the strings then, instead of tending into the opposite direction / hence "falling" into the strings.
- Presenting the levered up hare in basic guitar playing technique, whereas poise at the soundhole presenting the "I´m already there" hedgehog.
Thus, I am providing a lower arms resting right before the ellbow anyway ( not in the middle!), while discussing ergonomical options of the guitar.
An elevating arm rest should only accomodate such resting of the arm while helping to keep the hand in the range between soundhole and bridge. For, obviously the corresponding proportions of the common build remain a bit short even yet for relatively small people.
Meanwhile recalling, ergonomically I have had only good experience with that arm rest, except of that the cups would be getting off once in a while ( as described in above linked review ) and that the guitar wouldn´t fit into case.
Something like that, only permanent and at best with a bevelled instead of rounded edge should be coming in rather handy.
... Eventhough some engineers will be claiming that steam locomotives with their speeds above 30 km/h will lead to human body´s desintegration, right, Richard? Asides, Ramzi, above mentioned exercises bear the same kind of locomotive risks. You´ve been right with not even responding to the impossible quack. |OP :OD
Man, I remember the optical disturbance I felt with those cutaways coming up with acoustics. Ooh, and don´t get me started yet with those plain wrong to look at left-sided thingies! I think rather should the guys using these have been operated to swap their arms.
- We´ve come along great with Torres´ shaping for the past what, 2 million evolutionary years or so to now be hooking up some nasty looking seat? Nah, go away!
All those guys playing great prove perfection of the build in the same time, ... innit - >scratch, scratch<; and who´s to be asking backstage orthopedists.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
Hey RNJ - I think PdL's flexor part of the forearm actually does rest on the guitar's edge when he does picado in cross-legged position. We can find some videos with the appropriate camera angle to show that more clearly.
Ruphus - I tried looking at your link, but all of the photos were broken and not accessible. And with your language and the length of your post, I tried going through the text but really did not understand and did not put in the effort to try to get the point from your words only. The reason is that knowing you had actually made it a point to put in drawings / pictures, that must have meant that reading the text alone would surely not have allowed the reader to understand what was going on.
However, the more important reason why it was irrelevant to me was that guitar playing does not cause me median neuritis (carpal tunnel syndrome), but rather it causes me ulnar neuritis from the contact with the guitar's edge for long durations.
The issue I mentioned with carpal tunnel was from using the mouse, and I really don't get any lasting symptoms from that especially that I have now started using a touch pad instead of a mouse, and that has solved my problems. When I have to use a computer with only a mouse and no touch pad, I just have learned to use the mouse only when necessary, and not keep my hand on it all the times (like when reading off the screen), and that solved my carpal tunnel symptoms which never lasted beyond a few minutes during the mouse usage or very shortly thereafter.
What I don't understand is why you snapped at me...
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
Ramzi,
I see.
The exercises should do you good still, as they strengthen and balance the apparatus, secondarily healing physical sensitivity with the carpal tunnel. .. And seeing the empirics according to which folks with strong grip live longer: Who knows what´s it good for beyond; apart of strong hands being literally handy anyway.
quote:
ORIGINAL: rombsix
What I don't understand is why you snapped at me...
Maybe it´s adapting behaviour from one of my dogs. The female alpha is terrorizing her little sister, and I am getting increasingly cheesed with her. - Possibly taking off her habits in the same time.
Just do me a favour and wash those trowsers before my attempts to bite into calfs.
- Oh, and: I stopped smoking not so long ago, could be that makes me going after fellas too.
Man, your none-smokers´sterile world is a bit tame, I tell ya.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
ORIGINAL: rombsix
Hey RNJ - I think PdL's flexor part of the forearm actually does rest on the guitar's edge when he does picado in cross-legged position. We can find some videos with the appropriate camera angle to show that more clearly.
Here's Paco doing a fairly typical picado at 0:39.
It looks to me like his forearm is pretty much parallel to the top. Yes, it contacts the top at the edge, but rather than pressing against the corner to produce an indentation and pressure on the nerve, the forearm seems to lie pretty flat against the top. It still serves to stabilize the guitar.
I guess we would have to ask Paco, though....with a shirt on we can't really see wether there is an indentation or not.
If I were doing it (not nearly so fast) I would try to avoid pressing against the corner, as I learned to do with the old school position.
Playing classical, since I'm pretty tall, the angle between my forearm and the top is much, much smaller than the angle between the forearm and the side, which mitigates the effect of the corner pressing against the forearm, preventing interference with the nerve and blood circulation.
Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
Here is some of most rip roaring picado, sleevless, you can see the angle Paco pushes pretty darn hard against the corner of the guitar at 45 degress, you can see his muscles indenting, and it's long fast and hard picado. He did this his entire career with no problems we know of and stil does at 65 years old. Check 7:15 on, its especially virtuosic there.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ruphus)
When I had some lessons with Jose Antonio Rodriguez, he encouraged me to flatten my wrist for arpeggio which pushed my arm up so that the forearm resets on the corner.
So now my arm is on the corner quite a bit for arpeggio and picado I think it can feel quite nice but I don't have pains to deal with. Is it so bad to play like that ? I do worry about tensing my shoulder because playing like this the top bit of your arm is less supported.
Here you can see Jose shifting about a fair bit but often having his forearm pressing on the corner
Thanks for the long video Ramzi its great to see your posture and technique in detail.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo
Here is some of most rip roaring picado, sleevless, you can see the angle Paco pushes pretty darn hard against the corner of the guitar at 45 degress, you can see his muscles indenting, and it's long fast and hard picado. He did this his entire career with no problems we know of and stil does at 65 years old. Check 7:15 on, its especially virtuosic there.
You're right, Ricardo! If I did that for half an hour I would be paralyzed. Paco does move around a fair amount, your advice from a while back.
Furthermore, DiMeola has the corner of his guitar stuck right into the inside of his upper arm, which i had to figure out how not to do, because it put my whole arm to sleep.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
ORIGINAL: rombsix
Here's a video where I talk about this and try to explain what I'm going through... It's a bit long, so please be patient.
An excellent clear explanation. I think you have analyzed everything in a way I would agree with.
Let me say that I have never had a picado as fast as Paco or Sabicas. And at age 74, I doubt that I ever will.
The player i watched in my youth, much more than any other, was Sabicas. I was stationed in Maryland in the Army in 1962, and went to New York City almost every weekend, to shows at the nightclub Zambra. Fernando Sirvent was the house guitarist, so I'm sure I was influenced by him. But every couple of weeks Sabicas would show up with his entourage, a beautiful young blonde on his arm--not always the same one--and stay in the audience until closing time. Then he would mount the stage and preside, in a friendly and inviting manner, welcoming many artists. Every two or three pieces he would take a sip of brandy. He would play from closing time at 2 AM until the sun came up.
Getting to the point: Sabicas played in the traditional position. He almost never lifted his arm from the guitar, never for picado. He had a blazing picado, almost as fast as Paco. His solution to picado on the bass strings was one you mention, bending the wrist to the right. Even in other techniques the wrist was bent a good bit to the right.
Segovia also bent his wrist to the right. In fact just about everybody, classical or flamenco did so in the early 1960s when I was starting out.
Looking at myself in a mirror, I am a bit surprised to see how far to the right I bend the wrist nowadays. The classical teachers of the present day are pretty big on keeping the wrist much straighter. For me bending to the right is comfortable, and I am unaware that it hinders me in any way. But maybe it does. It doesn't provoke any excess tension.
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was to eliminate tension in the right arm in the traditional position. i learned to use only the weight of the arm to hold the guitar. My shoulders are level. The part of the lower bout below the waist of the bass side is pretty much parallel to the floor. My arm doesn't come as far toward the end of the guitar as yours does. My upper arm is pretty much parallel to the floor,
I don't really recall that learning to bend the wrist took much effort. But it was a long time ago when I did, and I was struggling with the excess tension of holding the guitar, so maybe it was a fair amount of effort.
Almost all the flamencos of today emulate Paco. Most of them have a blazling picado. The classical teachers advocate a much straighter wrist, and to play everything from exactly the same right hand position. (Few of them have a blazing picado.) In videos of Segovia's master classes you see students suffering terribly from excess tension, apparently from the bent wrist, among other causes. I vaguely remember seeing it among flamenco acquaintances of yesteryear. I wouldn't seriously advise anyone to develop the bent wrist technique.
Sore muscles result from overuse or excess tension. I see where you might develop shoulder and neck problems from lifting the arm in the traditional position, as well as ulnar nerve issues stabilizing the guitar.
Maybe if you went back to the Paco position, only with legs uncrossed, and a footstool under the right foot, as Paco and many others are doing nowadays?
Since I am so tall ( 6' 4" = 193 cm), I need a footstool under the right foot, set at the lowest height, for the traditional position. This levels my shoulders, and lets me use just the weight of the right arm to hold the guitar. I've played this way for more than 30 years, with no apparent injury.
However, I have played very little for the last five years or so, since an old motorcycle injury has pinched a nerve in my neck, somewhat numbing 3 and 4 on the left hand. I'm beginning to feel my age in a general loss of flexibility, so maybe my playing habits would have taken a toll in the last five years or so.
A while back, I bent my neck in a slightly unusual way. I heard a crunching noise. I no longer felt the occasional really stabbing neck pains. The fingers quit getting number. I proposed to my brother, a retired physician, that I might have btoken off part of a bone spur in my neck. He didn't disagree.
My brother knows a bit about bone spurs in the neck. In his early thirties he was head of the Flight Medicine Branch at the NASA Manned Space Flight Center. He grounded Deke Slayton for a bone spur in his neck. Writing their memoirs, the astronauts have been kind enough not to mention his name when grousing about the damned doctor who grounded their leader and father figure.
I'm starting back to play a bit. It seems I may still have enough feeling in the left hand to manage it. I'm going to see how it goes.
Good luck with your playing Ramzi. Nice alzapua. Even just demonstrating positions, the new guitar sounds great!
Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
quote:
ORIGINAL: rombsix
Here's a video where I talk about this and try to explain what I'm going through... It's a bit long, so please be patient.
Well, there is a big part of guitar playing that is psychological IMO. YOu have a background in medicine and now all your playing is concerned with physical "problems" you are WORRIED about developing. From a physical technique stand point, I don't understand you at all. From a psych stand point, your vid says...."my shoulder....my neck....my forearm...my left wrist...." etc etc....never heard so many problems in my entire life from a young skinny guy such as yourself. Your playing seems fine, but YOU seem to be a sort of hypochondriac. Not saying that you don't have pain, but is the pain really from guitar playing or your worried mind? Good luck finding the elusive "perfect position" ....because no such thing exists.
My advice as always, don't be afraid to change it up and keep moving around and focus on music not technique.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ricardo)
Thanks so much for the reply, RNJ. It means a lot that you took the time to view the video and get back to me.
You previously asked me about Nashville. It's doing alright. Starting to get more used to life here, and getting accustomed to the people and their ways. Work is proving to be quite tiring, and I don't have much time at present to practice guitar. Hopefully it'll get better with time...
Back to our discussion - I agree that many players do very well with using the elbow and bending the wrist somewhat while playing picado. I should give it a bit of time and see what I can come up with.
Regarding your biceps not coming down the side of the guitar as much as mine does - I believe that is related to the wrist angle you use and how flat your hand is when playing, as well as WHERE you are playing (over the sound hole versus closer to the bridge). The reason I put my biceps where I do is so that I can achieve the wrist angle, hand-flatness, and area of playing that I need.
Going back to Paco position with legs uncrossed and a footstool under the right foot - I tried that and it's great. Unfortunately, it means the guitar's neck is not as high up as in the traditional position, and thus my LEFT wrist is the issue here with my ganglion cyst as mentioned in the video. That's why I said that perhaps getting surgical intervention on that wrist might cure ALL of my issues regarding ergonomics/health while playing guitar.
I'm glad you like the sound of my new guitar, and thanks again for all the input. I'll always keep making adjustments until I get to the most comfortable arrangement one day.
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
Well, there is a big part of guitar playing that is psychological IMO. YOu have a background in medicine and now all your playing is concerned with physical "problems" you are WORRIED about developing. From a physical technique stand point, I don't understand you at all. From a psych stand point, your vid says...."my shoulder....my neck....my forearm...my left wrist...." etc etc....never heard so many problems in my entire life from a young skinny guy such as yourself. Your playing seems fine, but YOU seem to be a sort of hypochondriac. Not saying that you don't have pain, but is the pain really from guitar playing or your worried mind? Good luck finding the elusive "perfect position" ....because no such thing exists.
My advice as always, don't be afraid to change it up and keep moving around and focus on music not technique.
Ricardo
Thanks for the feedback, Ricardo. I agree that it's about music more so than technique, and I agree that I need to be moving around.
The bit about me being a hypochondriac or worrying about developing certain things that are not really there - I played much more than I do now in the past, when I started out at age 16. I would play cross-legged for 7 or 8 hours in a row without any issues of either wrist, back, etc. But then I started having back problems (when I started medical school, and would have to spend countless hours sitting down to study), and that was real. I've gotten imaging of my back and I know that there are structural defects. About my left wrist - I've also gotten imaging of that and I know that there is a lesion there. About my shoulder/neck - I've tried "playing through that" but it got to a point that it became really bad to a point that it interfered with my daily life. I couldn't turn my head anymore and it limited my everyday activities that I had to stop playing for a week to get back to normal.
The bottom line is - there is nothing I like more than playing guitar and practicing for many hours. The complaints I have are real, and the fact that you haven't heard about complaints in your entire life from a young skinny guy like myself doesn't mean I don't have these aches/pains. I would love to be able to just sit down and play in any position and have no problems whatsoever, and crunch the material and upload videos everyday. I used to do that at one point while on the foro if you remember. But these issues have started making playing more difficult for me (obviously, confounded by the fact that I have to work 80 - 100 hours per week now), and that is why I am trying to find ways around them by discussing with everyone here.
I could get surgical intervention done on my left wrist, and I could go and workout my lower back everyday. If that materializes, maybe I can get back to playing cross-legged in the PdL position and be done with all these guitar-related aches/pains. I just haven't gotten to a point where I felt like I wanted to have the operation done, but I'm getting closer to that point.
Thanks for the feedback, and hopefully I'll get these issues resolved soon.
Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
There's a video of the famous classical player John Williams playing with a huge ganglion cyst on his right wrist. His technique appeared effortless and utterly flawless, as always. Later it was gone. I don't know if he had surgery.
One of my brother's favorite mottoes is "Take medical advice. Avoid medical treatment."
When I had the motorcycle crash I mentioned, I landed pretty hard on my left shoulder. Neck pain led to the usual cascade of back muscle spasms and nearly disabling pain.
My brother advised me to take a muscle relaxer and lie on a heating pad when I got home from my sedentary job.
I said, "Muscle relaxer? I thought you were the 'no drug' doctor."
He replied, "You buy these muscle relaxers at 7-11 in six-packs."
His prescription worked well. Side effect: I started to get fat for the first time in my life. But I have always liked beer...
I hasten to add that my brother was all in favor of surgical intervention when the Crohn's disease of one of his grandsons became acute.
My brother expended some of his political capital advocating the legislation that enabled health maintenance organizations to operate in Texas. He thought they would recognize a financial incentive to practice more preventive medicine.
When he found that the HMOs practiced medicine the old way--wait until something breaks, then try to patch it up, but with the added insult of accountants making medical decisions--he was furious. He resigned from the boards of directors he was on, and made a public fuss. To no avail, in his estimation.
Posts: 50
Joined: Aug. 11 2012
From: Delaware, USA
RE: Your experience with / thoughts ... (in reply to rombsix)
Rombsix, your position looks fine to me. I think the problems you are feeling while playing your guitar are more from the overall stress and tension your body and mind are receiving from your job, computers, studying, in addition to playing guitar. I think it may help if you spend some time exercising: swimming, pilates, tai chi, yoga, etc. Also, maybe google "upper cross syndrome". While this syndrome might not specifically apply to you, I think it may help explain why I think exercise might solve your issues.
Printable Version
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread