Healing from Repetitive Stress Injuries Naturally

Healing from Repetitive Stress Injuries Naturally

The original video was an hour long so I made copious cuts to shorten it.  Unfortunately, the many cuts caused an audio sync issue.  Deal with it.  Close your eyes, don't watch my lips. 

Heal Thyself; An Ounce of Prevention

ARRGH.  I recently went hiking with a couple of friends and one of the hikers is a high school gym teacher.  I hiked in silent horror as he offered endless advice to his teenage son, daughter and the rest of us  about technical issues and body mechanics.  This man has a Masters in PE and is professionally teaching kids - to harm their bodies. 

The first bit of bad advice he gave was regarding warm ups.  He led our group in unsolicited stretching exercises.   I stood by and watched.  He admonished me to participate saying that if I don't warm up, I will injure myself.  This is true.  However, after getting out of my toasty bed that morning, I sat in my sauna for forty five minutes, took a hot shower, ate a hot breakfast and drove to the mountain base with my car's heat on full blast.  My entire body was warm to the core and raring to go.  But I waited patiently. 

When you stretch muscles, you are tearing tissue so the body has two defensive actions.  The first is to rush blood to the area of damage to begin repair.   This sudden rush of blood gives a feeling of warmth.  You are not really "warming up" the existing tissue (nor the whole body).  You are actually destabilizing isolated parts with micro tears which CAN lead to injury.   It is better to warm the entire body with heat rather than isolating body parts and foolishly think you are warming up by tearing muscle tissue.  The second defensive action of the body is inflammation which leads to the next bit of bad advice.

While hiking, his son sprained his ankle - despite being "warmed up."  Dad, without looking at it immediately told him to "walk it off."  Provided there were no broken bones or torn tendons, walking it off does have some merit. 

If you overuse or injure a body part such as a tendon, the body's response is to do a quick fix by putting scar tissue there.  This however, could lock or freeze up parts which were designed to move.  In the old days doctors would put your body part in a cast, splint or brace.  When the immobilization device was finally removed, the body would be stiff and it would take weeks, months or even years to get full mobility back - if.  Many doctors today favor using simple tape on the injured limb so that the body can still move in its mid range of motion and not to the extreme range of motion where further damage can occur.  A stretch for instance is an extreme range of motion. 

Maintaining gentle mid range movement keeps tendon sheaths lubricated with synovium fluid, prevents scar tissue from forming and tethering a tendon to its sheath and, promotes circulation so that blood can carry away toxins and damaged tissue which are created by our injury or stretch.   Most people can recognize this simple fact after sitting in a car for a long time or resting in the middle of some physical activity.   When they get back up, their body is stiff.  Our circulatory systems are designed to circulate.  Why do you think a "deer longs for flowing streams?"  Flowing water is fresh.  Stagnant water is, well, stagnant.   So, walking it off is good provided there is no serious damage.

Both a friend of mine and myself fell around the same time and both of us injured our right wrists.  Both of us had swelling and bruising.  He wore a brace and I decided to take advantage of the wonderful pain to work on proper body mechanics.  Although my wrist hurt and was tender to the touch, I was still able to play the piano without pain and playing actually made my wrist feel better because I was able to use it and not aggravate it.  Here is a link to a video of me playing a recital just two weeks later.

Flight of the Bumblebee
http://youtu.be/A1FHmgkwi2U 

I admit there were a few problems in my performance but the reason I was still able to play was that I wasn't using my wrist but moving my fingers by using my long flexors and employing the rotation of my forearm.  I am pretty much pain free right now but I still can't dorsiflex but, why would I want to do that to my carpal tunnel?  My friend is still wearing a brace today and has limited mobility and great stiffness.   The difference between us is that I used my body mechanics to promote healing and he is using the stagnation/immobilization method to heal.  I offered some advice but some people won't listen.  He's gobbling down ibuprofen and wearing a brace. 

Back to the hike.  When we returned to the parking lot, our teenager took off his shoe and sock to reveal a purple and swollen ankle: a gorgeous example of nature's cast.   Dad told him that when they got home he could ice it and elevate it.  That's fair.  Treating symptoms can make you feel better but doesn't fix problems.  If your car's tires have uneven wear, getting new tires will treat the symptom but not the problem of the car's alignment.   The first thing this boy needed was an x-ray to ensure there was nothing broken or fractured.   I suggested that the boy put both his feet in a contrast bath and Dad, who has a Masters in PE asked, "What's that?"

If my kid's teacher or coach ever suggested stretching and warm ups in this manner, I'd find a new coach.  Sure I could try to educate them but some egos are too big to admit they are wrong or to change.  That is the beauty of making mistakes but only a few of us can learn from them.  Touch a hot stove and you may never do that again.  Get caught stealing and maybe the shame will make you never do it again.  Sprain your wrist and maybe you will analyze what hurts and what doesn't and you will discover your body's optimal alignment and be better at everything you do - or you can wear a brace and heal in time.

We've all heard the stories of a seeker who ascends a mountain to get an answer from a Zen Master at the top.  When the seeker arrives at the top, finds the Zen Master and asks his question, the Master doesn't answer.  That is because if you don't discover the answer on the journey, you won't understand the answer if it is given to you.  The answer is:  Don't seek the truth - just drop your opinions and the answer will come to you.  A friend of mine is a great songwriter but he is not a musician.  The reason he can come up with beautiful melodies is that his mind is not cluttered with theory, style, propriety or technique. 

Ultimately the newly minted resilience of youth is powerful.  Kids will heal and come back.  But when they turn fifty, and their joints begin to stiffen and become sore, they move and exercise less, they begin to put on weight which stresses the joints further, they develop arthritis and tendonitis, diabetes, clogged arteries and shortness of breath - know that it all started thirty years ago with a stretch and a warm up.  

"When the task is done beforehand, then everything else is easy."
-Zen master Yuan-tong.

Toast To the Ta Ta's

I recently attended a wine tasting event which was a fundraiser and promotion for breast cancer awareness. 

One of my sisters died from breast cancer which metastasized to her brain.  After she first discovered a lump she was scared and didn't go to see a doctor for over a year.  She first decided to pray it away.

So ladies, get those things checked.  Don't be embarrassed.  Don't be afraid.  Don't wait and see if it goes away.  Many forms of breast cancer are completely curable if caught early enough. 

For those of you who are religious and wish to pray over it, consider this - maybe God will cure you by sending you to a doctor.  Even Jesus referred people to other experts.  In Luke 17: 12-14 Jesus told ten lepers to go see the priest.  Priests in those days were experts at diagnosing the vast variety of skin ailments since so many people went to them for healing. 

In those days where skin disorders were very common there was a rabid, foaming at the mouth hysteria about leprosy.  Mostly it was the Christians who had skin disorders because they refused to use the public toilets.  Instead, they opted to void in designated fields for purposes of privacy and humility.  They then walked back to the ritual bath area, often barefoot and tracking with them microbes from the fecal infested field.  They then got into a bath that 500 people ritually cleansed themselved in before them.  That germ infested water would go up their noses, in their eyes, mouths, ears and worse yet, into open cuts and scrapes.  It is ironic that the religious zeal for cleanliness was the cause of their many disorders.  Indeed, cleanliness was next to Godliness because it got you closer to God by killing you.

Back to the Ta Ta's.  There is no shame in developing breast cancer.  On the contrary, when you beat it, you will be both a hero and inspiration for others.  If the worse possible diagnosis befalls you, still, don't feel bad or blame yourself or God.   Keep your head up high and tell people not to feel sorry for you.   Feeling sorry for someone is pity, not compassion.  Pity puts one in a stance of looking down upon the sick one.  Compassion (with - suffering) puts one side by side.  The only healing possible in this world of medical miracles is the ability to accept one’s death even as one fights to hang on to life.  With this emotional or spiritual healing comes hope.  With this attitude comes compassion.  With this inner peace comes resurrection of life. 

Have you checked your Ta Ta's today?  If you did, shout it from the roof tops.  Tell your mom, sister, daughter, aunt, neighbor, friend.  Whether you find a lump or not, whether you live or die, you have the power to save many lives.   Be a hero.

Now, men . . .

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam

Tendonitis, Playing the Piano and Skiing

I recently wrote a blog about the prevention and cure for tendonitis where I opined that working on your piano or typing technique can improve other activities such as skiing.  Someone called me to task on that comment and challenged me to explain.

It is not that piano playing and skiing are that much related as much as the physics behind them is the same.  The concepts in common are gravity, alignment (kinematic chains) and reactions to actions.

One of the most common injuries to a skier is a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament).  It happens simply when the femur and tibia are not properly aligned and the torque doesn't go through the bones but is transferred onto the tiny yet powerful ACL.  The ACL is very strong when properly aligned but break that alignment and it is as weak as a piece of paper.

Every movement has equal and opposite movements.  In playing the piano the pianist has to play down and thusly he is required to have an up motion.  The muscles to make the arm go up are much stronger than the arms which make us go down because to fall down, no muscle is required.  The pianist also goes up and down the keyboard so in order to play left he has to go right.  Here is why:

If I were to swing a tennis racquet, I would toss the ball in the air and swing my arm backward, then swing forward to hit the ball.  To swing a baseball bat or golf club, I would do the same.  When I swim, in order to stroke, my arm goes behind me, then up and in front of me, then down and behind me.  If I were to swat a fly I would raise the swatter before descending down to smoosh its target.  If I were to slap your face, I wouldn't start with my palm on your face.  I would swing backward then forward across your cheek (and you'll let me do it seven times seventy times then turn the other cheek).

If I wanted to jump into the air, I would bend my knees and sink a little to the ground then propel myself upward.  If I were standing on a glass floor and wanted to break it.  I would jump up and keep my knees bent until I was close to the glass, then extend my knees and feet into the surface for maximum impact.

I come from the old school of parallel skiing where I keep my legs together and ski with them as one rather than two legs.  When you ski with your legs or feet apart, you have four edges to worry about and control (dual muscular pulls).  Catching an edge on the snow can cause you to lose balance and fall.  When you ski with your legs parallel, you only have two edges acting as one limb.  The skier always keeps the inside leg a little bit shorter by bending it slightly more.  Both legs and feet have to be turning together in the same direction at the same time much like all five fingers of a pianist  SHOULD only go in one direction at a time.  The skier needs to have his torso and head perfectly aligned and balanced in one chain.

The parallel turn is accomplished not just by jumping or grinding your edges into the snow but by un-weighing yourself.  When turning, there is a bend at the hip and the legs are extended to the right.  You can experience this, sort of, if you stand sideways about four feet from a wall, lean toward the wall with your left hand so that you are at an oblique angle.  All your weight should be in your right leg (inside the foot-radial side) and the left leg is parallel.  At tremendous forces the edge is digging into the ice (if you ski in the east) and snow (if you ski out west).

That is kind of what a turn feels like but not as static.  This is also a left turn.  As you turn left by leaning into the inside right ski edge, your body will feel the momentum and you would then slightly tuck both knees up and shift your legs to the other side but when you extend your legs so that your skis go down, you lean into the inside of the left ski edge:  These are equal and opposite motions, with perfect alignment, with both legs going in the same direction at the same time.

This method of un-weighing can look like the skier is jumping in the air but they are actually just extending their legs and shifting weight from right to left.  With balance, momentum, extension and retraction, this keeps him upright and in control.

Also, the skier needs to keep the front of his body always facing down the hill where the fall line is or where gravity is pulling him.  If he deviates from the fall line, there needs to be a lot of adjustments lest he catch an edge resulting in a face plant or yard sale.

It sounds complicated but if you are a parallel skier, it makes total sense.  The skier's whole body can only do one thing at a time, either turn left or right or coast forward.  Many skiers are taught to snowplow which is skiing on the inside edges of both skies at the same time but that isn't skiing.  It is ice making and it puts pressure on the knees and maintains constant flexion of the muscles.  As a novice masters the snowplow they are taught the stem Christie which is one step away from parallel but most skiers don't progress to the next step predominately because the nature of un-weighing the whole body is foreign to many people's concept and it requires a leap of faith.  A shy skier will never move beyond the stem Christie. They lack the confidence that their edge will be there if they un-weigh so they remain advanced beginners or intermediate skiers at best because they don't understand nor trust the concept of a closed-loop kinematic chain. 

Have you ever noticed that after somebody has a heart attack or loses a child or goes through anything really heavy, their outlook can change overnight?  They see life on a more deep level than before.  They tend to think about the bigger things and not care so much about the color their cars are or what clothes are in style.  When your mind and body are at one with the mountain, all the obstacles and gravity melts away.

So, like the pianist whose arm can only go in one direction at a time, the skiers body can only go in one direction at a time.  If his body or legs oppose that, he can still ski, just not well.

For the past twenty years ski makers have been designing parabolic skies which are shaped to promote parallel skiing and it is funny to see people skiing parallel without the un-weighing of their body.  Instead they are rolling the ski from edge to edge.  They still fall because they are trying to control the ground rather than control their body and go with gravity.

When skiing in deep powder or on ice, the skier needs this un-weighing as if they are trying to plunge through a glass floor.  This makes it so that the ski edges can dig in to whatever they are resisting.  Lack of un-weighing is why most skiers cannot ski on ice or in deep powder.  They then complain about the mountain or the conditions. 

A skier who tries to control the ski, control the ground and control gravity, will not be a good skier and can easily hurt themselves.  If they use the ski as an extension of their body and they go with gravity rather than fighting it, they can control everything and it will be effortless because they won't be static and engaging the same muscles all the time.  On the contrary.  Our muscles which aid in us going up are much stronger than our muscles that help us go down (Hamstrings Vs Quads).  Ironically, it is engaging the weaker hamstring which gives the quads a break and allows them to work more efficiently and most importantly - rest.

A pianist who fights with the mechanical nature of a piano will forever be challenged by it and their own bodies and, most likely, injured by it.  The pianist is not the engine to the instrument as much as a conduit to the music that already exists.  Only when the closed-loop kinematic chain of the body is achieved and alignment between body and instrument coalesce into one can a musician become an artist or a skier master the gravity of the mountain.

It is interesting to note that true artists or true prodigies don't know what they are doing.  What they do is simply natural to them.  When they try to explain what they do they get it wrong because they explain how they feel.  Bach, for instance, taught his students to scratch the key in a carrezando technique because what he was feeling when he played was his fingers caressing the keys.  What was really happening was as he was lifting and dropping his arm and moving in and out onto the keys because instinctively, he knew his fingers were different lengths and equalizing them caused micro tension.  The sensation of caressing the keys was a result of his arm moving the fingers.  That is what he felt but caressing the keys was not what he was doing. 

Another thing teachers get wrong is when they tell their students to relax the hand.  They need to relax the correct muscles at the right time.  But that is a topic for another time. 

Original slide on Tendonitis
http://www.slideshare.net/sa/8652ca32b9f25fa5adb94fe916c18599

Heal Thyself: Part Three

In Part One I touched briefly upon disorders, treatments and an admonition to find another way to heal oneself other than traditional treatment.  In part two I talked a bit about movement of the wrists (dorsiflexion, ulnar deviation, radial deviation, etcetera) and the body in whole.  Here I'd like to talk briefly about why some people will never heal.

If an injury is the result of improper movement or from extensive stretching of the tendons, to the point that they have micro tears and consequent layers of scar tissue, the only way to heal is to cease creating micro tears and break up the existing scar tissue.  Imagine if you cut a three inch circular hole in your favorite sweater then without replacing the missing swatch, simply sew up the hole.  The knot that ensues and the stretching and pulling of the fabric is sort of what happens to your muscles when they are hog-tied by scar tissue.

In order to cease creating micro tears one needs to stop moving and bending incorrectly and stop stretching the tendons to the point where the body needs to create scar tissue.  Coaches and physical therapists prescribe stretching to warm up muscles when really, all they are doing is creating micro tears in the muscles and tendons.  The body's response to this minor damage is to rush blood to the damaged site which makes the body feel warm.  The  body is not technically warming up, it is rushing blood to the site to immobilize the tissue:  Nature's cast.  If coaches really want to warm up the body of their athletes they would make them sit in a sauna and give them a massage.  Just ask Olympic trainers.

In order to break up the scar tissue created by over stretching, you need to, well, stretch.  The solution to this conundrum is actually very easy; allow the body to move naturally in its mid-range of motion.  That is why I am a strong opponent to the use of braces because they inhibit the body from moving in its mid range of motion and also forces the wearer to overcompensate by using other unnatural movements on areas of the body which will only strain new joints and new tissue.  This new misuse and overuse will facilitate a downward spiral of repetitive motion disorders.  I have heard many stories where the inital pain started as a twang in the forearm, then a sharp pain, then numbness of the hand, followed by constant pain in the wrist, then elbow and shoulder pain, back pain follows then it become bilateral. Revisit that old song, "The hip bone's connected to the knee bone."

Most injuries occur because the athlete (or musician) had something not in proper alignment in the first place and over or under compensated with another part of the body which wasn't intended to move that way.  Proper movement promotes healing, plain and simple.  Once the body is trained to move properly, scar tissue will begin to break up, inflammation will go down and symptoms will disappear.  The body will begin to work as efficiently as it was designed while it is slowly freed from the tether of scar and pain.

Have you ever been buried in snow or sand to the point where you couldn't move?  Brute force will not free you from the  mass piled upon you.  However, if you gently move up and down, left and right, forward and backward, you will create little air pockets.  As the pockets increase in all directions, not just one, you will eventually obtain enough space where you can use more and employ larger muscles to displace greater mass and eventually break free (unless you are in a ten foot deep avalanche).  The person with over and misused tendons must start out the same way; free to move effortlessly in every direction and expand from there.   After meeting with my practitioner for the first time, during the following week I experienced painless snapping sensations in my forearms.  That was the scar tissue breaking and releasing my tendons as they began to move as nature intended.  I was no longer overstretching but moving just enough to entice the scar to release its hold on my muscles.  Much like the Chinese finger torture we all experimented with as kids.  The harder you try, the harder it is to get free.

Unfortunately, when there is a glimmer of hope, that is where many people give up on their training and begin moving "normally" again.  At that point, the ailment comes back with a vengeance because they are no longer creating micro tears but tearing the whole mass of scar tissue.  Those are the type of people who never heal, much like a yo-yo dieter.  Many people won't even get that far.  Musicians are the worse.  I had one student who dutifully practiced the exercises that I prescribed to him then he practiced other music he was interested in but, without employing the new movements I was unconditionally demanding of him.  He was using his motor memory which was flawed and ingrained in his muscles and brain from the first day he touched a piano, causing his problems of today.  He was in a downward going from one step forward to two steps back.  There was no hope for him to heal and I dropped him as a student after three lessons.  Another woman wanted to heal NOW!  I told her it would be six months of moving ONLY as I instructed her but that prospect was too difficult.  She opted for the quick fix of surgery.  Two years later, her carpal tunnel syndrome reasserted itself and she had a second surgical procedure.  This time following her surgery her fingers no longer responded the same and she no longer plays the organ in church and still has pain.  A third student with the discipline much like I had did nothing but the exercises I prescribed to him and after a few weeks he was pain free.  He continued working with me and very soon he was playing much better than he did before his injury.  His symptoms were gone and he was able to transpose his new found discipline to other parts of his body where he told me his walking, driving, hiking and skiing drastically improved. 

A friend of mine complained most of his life of knee pain.  His physical therapists dutifully treated his knee pain symptoms.  After over twenty years of icing, exercising and resting his knees he saw a new doctor who told him that his knee problems was in his hips.  Because he had a hip problem he unnaturally over compensated each step which put unnatural and misaligned strain on his knees. With very simple sleuthing, the doctor discovered that his hip problem was caused by an old shoulder injury.  The shoulders and hips work together when we walk.  His right shoulder was frozen in tandem with his right hip which caused stress problems in both knees.  The bulk of the damage was in the hip so he had a hip replacement and the knee pain practically disappeared.

The difficulty in trying to help someone to help themselves is that they need to give 100% of their effort and dedication toward the healing process.  Anything less is unacceptable and doomed for failure.  There can be no deviation from the course.   With the insidious disorder of tendonitis, in the words of Yoda, "There is no try, only do."  There is no option for cheating, no break from dedicated effort, no shortcuts and no going back.  The only way to heal is the hard way - by making movement easy and effortless as the body was designed.  It is really simple.  But, we flawed humans want it now.

Buddha said "Before enlightenment there is chopping wood and carrying water.  After enlightenment, there is chopping wood and carrying water.  The differences are tremendous but not visible."

-Malcolm Kogut.

Heal Thyself

I once presented a series of workshops around the northeast called "Playing with Fire."  It was designed with musicians in mind but I have healed many people from various professions.  Not everyone has the capacity to heal themselves and much like Ellen Burstyn's "Edna" character in "Resurrection," I don't offer the workshop anymore.

Tendinitis is a particularly nasty injury because it's mostly caused by inflammation due to improper usage or prolonged use of certain parts of the body. If you ignore it, most likely it will get worse. Left untreated, you will get scar tissue which will cause more pain and discomfort. Tendinitis takes a long time to heal. As the tendons become inflamed, they can press on nerves.  One particular nerve which is susceptible to tendon inflammation is the median nerve in the wrist.  The pain and numbness resulting from that is often called carpal tunnel syndrome.  That problem has been around for centuries and has been called many different things, usually associated with occupations which are repetitive. Pain is the body's way letting you know it needs something or that something worse is about to happen. Never ignore pain.  Continuing to stress it will only cause more damage and more pain. When the pain becomes excruciating and you finally seek medical help there may be more damage than can be corrected.

It is actually quite easy to heal through movement modification because proper movement promotes healing. I had tendonitis and I was in so much pain for a six month period that I couldn't sleep.  I couldn't even pick up a piece of paper.  I drove with my knees.  Monday through Friday I did absolutely nothing (well, I got a great tan) and saved myself up for playing the organ for six Masses on the weekend only to find myself doing hours of contrast baths every Sunday evening to ameliorate the agony from the weekend abuse.  It wasn't until I sought the help of a woman who "healed" me in minutes. At the very least, she had me playing the piano pain-free. After an hour of special exercises, she asked me how my hands felt and for the first time in six months, they felt normal. Of course, it took six months of intensive re-training to actually heal but, I healed.  The really cool effect was that I began experiencing snapping sensations in my forearms as scar tissue was releasing and healing.

Healing does not have to be some elusive elemental thing. Many people think that surgery is a quick and easy solution for median nerve entrapment - provided you don't continue doing the movements which caused the problem in the first place.  Surgery solves the symptom but the underlying problem still exists and the problem is that we are simply moving incorrectly.  Current medical treatment consists of rest, medication, shots, physical therapy or surgery.  The best analogy I can come up with is if you have a nail in your shoe which is causing you pain and bleeding in your foot, you can rest until you heal. But the moment you begin walking again, the nail is still there and the symptoms of pain and bleeding come back.  You can "walk it off," work through it or try to build up muscle but that won't work.  You can take off the shoe and put on a band-aid but, the moment you put the shoe back on the problem will still be there.  You can take medication so that you don't feel the nail and its attendant pain but, the nail is still there.  The only solution is to remove the nail and the foot will heal.

If your car is out of alignment you will eat through your tires.  The worn tires are the symptom of the poor alignment.  You can always put on new tires but those will wear, too.  The solution is to fix the alignment.  Our bodies are fulcrums, levers, pulleys and rubber bands.  They are designed to work at prodigious efficiency.  Can they work inefficiently?  Absolutely.  Poor posture and misalignment has a respectable place in our repertoire of movement.  Misuse isn't the problem, overuse isn't the problem; it is when we combine both misuse with overuse that we cause problems. 

Surgery will open up the carpal tunnel so that our inflamed tendons are no longer be pressing on the median nerve.  The pain and numbness will go away but you still have inflamed tendons.  What happens when they become even more inflamed?  How many surgeries can we have to open up the tunnel more and more?  For someone who depends on fine and efficient movements such as a musician, at what technical cost is there in changing the landscape of this efficient and tightly compact design?  Think of removing the miles of intestine within our gut, then packing it all back in.  Sure, it can be done. Will it be the same?

Anyone who fishes knows that you can't cast a broken fishing pole.  Sure you can tape it together but it won't work as efficiently as an unbroken one.  Musicians all have the capacity to enjoy pain free virtuoso techniques but first we need to undo the motor memory of the very first flawed times we touched our instruments.  Not many of us had the right teacher at our first lesson. Pianistically, this teacher would have been someone who only let us play one key, with  one finger, for several weeks before we were allowed to employ a second finger.

As I said, I was suffering from a bout of long flexor tendinitis as result of overuse and misuse.  It was actually while building a deck in my back yard when I first noticed a twinge of pain.  Eventually, as I played the piano I was occasionally charged with a stabbing pain in my forearm.  It started off intermittently but then became constant with every use of my fingers or hands.  I went to see the doctor and he started me on a course of anti-inflammatory drugs.  They actually helped for a brief period.  The problem with these drugs was that they were taking away the pain or, masking the symptoms but not solving the problem.  The problem was that I was misusing my hands.  Since the drugs relieved the inflammation which was causing the pain, feeling better, I continued to misuse my hands.  This made my tendonitis worse.  Eventually the pain became bilateral and my arms were in pain 24 hours a day.  My doctor sent me to see the physical therapist who prescribed more movement which only made my symptoms worse.  In addition to the constant aching, I was unable to perform the simplest tasks.  I couldn’t pick up a pencil, I couldn’t brush my teeth, I couldn’t comb my hair, holding a fork was painful, flushing the toilet, zipping a zipper, driving, tying my shoes.  Everything caused pain and exasperated my symptoms.

After about a year of therapy, drugs, and rest, I thought my career as a piano player was over.  Movement re-education gave me my life back.  Mind you, I was not cured, rather, I just discontinued misusing my hands, proper movement put everything in natural alighnment and my body healed itself.  Every once in a great, great while I get a twinge of pain when I thoughtlessly revert back to my old way of moving but a quick readjustment of my alignment fixes everything.  I actually found that moving properly not only permitted me to move again, but it made me feel better in everything I did.  It took over a year when I realized that I forgot that I ever had the pain.  Those lessons have since been transposed into every aspect of my moving life.  Everything about me improved.  My music, skiing, hiking, even driving my car.

As I asserted earlier, I do  not heal people anymore but, know that there are alternative and amelioratative ways to mitigate this apparent failure of medical enterprise. Having been there, I am very disappointed that the medical community has not embraced the over 300 year old solution but continues to perpetuate false dogma.  Although, I suspect the blame lies with those of us who want a solution now, at whatever cost - along the path of least resistance.