Category: Articles about Music and Medicine

Benz, Ulla: Posture perfect

Playing a string instrument can put great strain on the body.

Ulla Benz, violin teacher at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and a medical doctor, considers the problems and solutions.

Playing a string instrument is characterised by asymmetry. The body of the musician is not in a symmetrical position so as to counterbalance the imbalances and unequal load distribution on the musculoskeletal system. In the long-term this causes typical complains of the support and locomotion system. More than 86% of all string players in professional orchestras in Germany report from playingrelated musculoskeletal disorders, both chronic and acute.

IMTEX – International Music Teachers Exchange published with the kind permission of Ulla Benz and STRINGS FOCUS, CLASSICALMUSICMAGAZINE.ORG