The cost of a good reed…
Thursday August 02 2007
— is the expense of my back. Ever since 7th grade (age 11) I have been making reeds. Today, at age 28, my back bears the consequences of bad posture.
My posture is terrible when I make reeds. Somehow, I have taught myself to crouch over, I suppose trying to find the perfect view of the reed with the light hitting it the perfect way. I bend my back over in a very unnatural way, and crunch my neck back as if I’m a hunchback. I think my bone structure and muscles have grown and adjusted to my abnormal posture as I made reeds, because today I can’t make a reed without feeling a lot of aches and pains back there. Most recently my right arm has been going numb if I bring my elbow at a 135 degree angle from my body.
Do any of you fellow reedmakers have bad upper back problems? How have you corrected your reedmaking posture? I’ve tried everything to correct my posture, but I never seem to get the right light or never feel comfortable while making reeds.
Nowadays, as I’m in transit and currently staying at my mother-in-law’s house as I await our flight (12 days and counting) I’ve been sleeping on the floor, which has just made my back all the more painful. I can’t even sleep at night from the pain.
Bautbois
Aug 2, 2007
a technical blog question - is it possible to be notified through RSS of some such thing (and i use an older gen browser - netscape 7.1 - so maybe i need to upgrade) - that there are new comments on a thread? would it be possible to have a page on the blog that lists each heading and when the comments were posted ? it’s hard to go back to threads that are older to check for comments especially.
Jillian
Aug 2, 2007
A reed-maker I know that had back surgery prefers to stand while she makes reeds. She just has her light adjusted accordingly. I do that myself sometimes, and it really helps.
Craig Southerington
Aug 2, 2007
I too was plagued with back and neck pain and numbness. All due to a particular postural issue. I didn’t discover what I was doing wrong untill I videotaped a practice session. And the I discovered I was doing it almost all the time but mostly when playing the oboe or working at a computer screen. What I discovered is that I was putting my cervical spine (neck) seriously out of column, that is, I was jutting my head forward. This was causing serious nerve impingement in my spine….not good at all! I have lived with this pain most of my life and I am 60 now. I have worked very hard to reprogram myself to keep my head high and back where it should (learned from some Alexander coaching) and am now, after 30 or so year, PAIN FREE!!! You have to start by discovering where your head and neck should be then do whatever it takes to keep it there. I kept on videotaping my session, bought new glasses which allowed me to focus out further(so I wasn’t always straining to get closer to the screen, reed, music, whatever. In addition I did a lot of just walking around with my head on straight so that I would re-learn where to keep it automatically. Over the past 30 years I have been to a nerousurgeon, sports physicians and therapists, chiropractors, and massage therepists to no avail. Getting my spine in alignment fixed it all. The picture of you making reeds made my neck hurt again. Fix it now, you will be happy you did.
Craig
nat*
Aug 2, 2007
Hmm. I used to have that problem too, another oboist friend of mine told me to sit up straight, hold my head higher and try to get into a position that’s as natural as possible (one that you can sit at for at least two or three hours). Adjust the light to suit your posture too. I hope this helped 
Aug 2, 2007
Here’s some caring advice from a guy who’s pushing 50…start NOW, ie. ASAP, addressing these issues - change your posture, buy reading glasses, a welding visor with a magnifier - whatever it takes - do exercises - invest in time with an OT - to deal with these physical issues now…it can only get worse if not, and you want a LONGGGG career…you’re too young for this s*&t. Do you exercise regularly - even something like yoga? or a martial art? i know lots of older musicians (older than me) and they all complain about arthritis and screwed up backs and such…
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