Healthy String Playing

Whether it's coping with overuse problems, conquering performance anxiety, or just keeping your body in great string-playing shape, experts from the pages of Strings magazine will help you in all areas of player wellness. This handy guide includes helpful tips from performers, teachers, students, and doctors to keep you playing at your best.

• A Helping Hand - Tension-free bowing tips that adult amateurs can grasp By James Reel.
• Double Trouble - Quick action can help address potentially debilitating double-crush injuries. How to avoid and deal with double crush injuries (injuries to the shoulder or neck and also near the hand or fingers) By Avram Lavinsky.
• Finger Tips - Few things bring down the musical hand faster than damaged digits. Common finger and hand problems associated with stringed-instrument musicians and how to treat them (with the help of Dr. Robert Markison) By David Templeton.
• From Fear to Freedom - Developing a nondrug strategy for combating performance anxiety. Discussion about finding a new perspective to deal with stage fright By Gabriel Sakakeeny.
• Heimberg's Handy Hints: Tips and Tricks of the Trade - Comfort in playing By Tom Heimberg.
• Injury Prevention and Healing through Yoga - Yoga for musicians By Lauryn Shapter.
• It's a Stretch - An occupational-therapy perspective on player health and wellness. Tips and advice on how to prevent and treat repetitive-stress injuries for musicians By Carrie Booher.
• Keeping Fingertip Cracks at Bay - Causes and cures for tip-of-the-finger cracks By Yvonne Caruthers.
• Musicians and the Alexander Technique - By Fleezanis, Jorga, and Jon Bernie.
• Overuse Injuries - How String Players Can Recognize, Prevent, and Treat Them By Richard Norris, M.D.
• Pilates for the Cellist - Explanation of Pilates and its benefits to cellists By Felicity Vincent.
• Playing Hurt - Doctors, Musicians, and Teachers on When to Stop, What to Do By Ruth F. Brin.
• Preventing Overuse Injuries: The Power Is in Your Hands - Avoiding repetitive stress injuries and other playing hazards By Darcy Lewis.
• Staying Healthy - Nurturing wellness among young string players isn't such a stretch By James Reel.
• Stress and the String Player - Coping with stress By Shannon Mar.
• Surviving Overuse Injuries - Interview with Peter Oundjian about hand injuries By Edith Eisler.
• The Art of Performance Medicine By Joan Hamilton.
• The Bountiful Pleasures of Stretching By John Jerome.
• The Ten Do's and Don'ts - Tips for Avoiding Injury By Janet Horvath.
• You Are Your Instrument - Muscular Challenges in Practice and Performance By Julie Lyonn Lieberman.