WHY IT HAPPENS

The cause of musician's and artist's pain.

Playing an instrument, drawing, painting, or any craft that keeps your body in one position for hours is not inherently dangerous. The problem is repetition without recovery. The same muscles fire in the same patterns, day after day, year after year, while the opposing muscles weaken and the joints lose range of motion.

Over time, small compensations add up. The shoulder that rounds forward. The neck that tilts to one side. The hip that locks up from sitting. None of these feel serious at first. Then one day they do.

“Most people carry this pain longer than they need to, assuming it is just part of the job. Most of the time there is something we can do about it.”

AN ACTUAL CASE

From chronic pain to self-managed maintenance

I worked with a professional violist in her early 30s who had been dealing with tennis elbow, chronic neck and shoulder tension, and low back pain since her teens. All of it made sense given how much she plays her instrument every day.

We did a full mobility evaluation and worked together for 8 weeks. By the end she had no more pain, and more importantly, she knew how to manage her own maintenance using weights, corrective exercises, and myofascial release. She did not need to keep coming back indefinitely. She had the tools.

WHAT WE DO

The Approach

Every session starts with a movement and mobility assessment to find the root cause, not just the place that hurts. From there the program is built around three things: restoring range of motion in the affected joints, restrengthening the muscles that have been neglected, and teaching you how to manage your own recovery between sessions.

The goal is not to make you dependent on a trainer. It is to get you out of pain, back to full performance, and confident in your own maintenance.

COMMON QUESTIONS

Do I need to stop playing while we work on this?

The program is built around your schedule and practice demands. In most cases you continue playing and we work around your performance commitments.

I have been dealing with this for years. Is it too late?

Chronic pain from overuse responds well to corrective exercise regardless of how long it has been present. The body adapts to what you ask of it.

What is corrective exercise?

Corrective exercise identifies the movement compensations and muscle imbalances that cause pain and restrict range of motion. Rather than working around the problem, it addresses the root cause by restoring joint mobility and rebuilding the strength needed to move without compensation.

Where are sessions held?

In San Francisco, Hayes Valley. Remote consultations are also available for an initial assessment.