Ergo Series [Issue 7, Volume 1]
Guitar design has not changed significantly almost over the past 70 years. Leading guitar manufacturers are still producing some of their guitar lines that was first introduced in 1950s.
Unfortunately, the unchanged design of these guitars are affecting the way some guitarists play. Learn how playing guitar could be bad for your body!
What's the deal?
Guitar is used heavily across different music genres due to its size versatility as opposed to a keyboard or a piano. Among all musicians, guitar players can be considered as the most prone to musculoskeletal injury. In fact, physical demands of a guitarist are not far from a sportsman.
How?
Sportsman uses larger muscle groups (biceps, hamstrings, etc.) while guitarist uses smaller muscle groups (fingers, wrist, etc.). Guitarist makes fast-pace, repetitive, delicate movement of wrist and fingers as compared to other musicians.
In addition, the way we hold and play guitar may affect our body posture. Practicing a new song on a guitar over prolong period of time may strain some parts of our body, making us more prone to cumulative strain injury.
How Guitar is Affecting Your Posture?
Wrist flexion. When you flex your wrist, the median tunnel where tendons are located narrows. Moving your fingers while wrist is flexed could inflame internal tendons leading to chronic musculoskeletal injuries.
Neck bending. When you bend your neck forward, the center of gravity of the head shifts forwards and increases the load exerted by the neck muscle.
Lower back bending. When you bend your lower back, intervertebral disc exerts more force than normal. It could expedite the ‘wear and tear’ effect on discs.
Repetitive elbow motion. There are a lot of delicate finger movements (including pinching and gripping) that could effect flexor muscles located at inner and outer side of elbow. Combined with repetitive elbow motion up and down the guitar neck, could build excessive muscle strain.
‘Drooping’ posture is where guitarist adopts lower back and neck bending. It allows them to see where their fingers are on the fretboard while playing. This is common, especially for newbies.
Has there been any reported injury?
A study of musicians conducted in Australia in 2012 found that 84% out of 8 professional orchestras experienced pain and injuries that interfere with their playing during rehearsal. Similarly, a survey conducted by US Bureau of Labor and Statistics in 2014 reported that nearly 75% of 173,000 professional musicians experience pain and injuries that affected their playing.