Hi
I’m lucky enough to have a lot of free time for practice at the moment, and I’m finding myself getting various tight muscles and tension in my shoulders and neck. The summer school I attended this year had 10 minutes of warm up and stretching each day, and this got me wondering - what do you do if anything to avoid physical problems?
Meditation and deep breathing – they help me to recognize where I am tense.
I was playing the whistle for awhile and I developed some problems in my right wrist and fore arm. I did not have pain while I was playing, but I had pain and stiffness afterwards that never went away. I am just getting over it after about six months of not practicing at all.
I thought these exercises helped a bit, but I think I let the problem go on too long. I am now trying the whistle out for about 5 minutes at a time to see if I can prevent a recurrence. I think in addition to doing these exercises (sp) I need to work on relaxation and shorter practice sessions and hand position. I am trying the tendon strengthening exercises at the bottom of the page very gently. I really don’t know if any of these exercises work, but they are not time consuming and they feel good. The idea of learning to recognize tension that fluti mentioned is a good one. I notice throughout the day that I have been holding my shoulders all tensed up without realizing it. I think a person gets so used to it that it feels normal.
http://www.mindspring.com/~shin-on/handcare.html
That’s a fabulous link Cynth, thanks - I think I’ll try to build those exercises into my practice routine as a preventative measure.
This question reminds me of the following, from an interview with the Legendary Big Band Drummer Buddy Rich (perhaps the greatest drummer of all time):
Interviewer: Did you have a routine you go through to prepare before a show?
Buddy Rich: Yes, I take my hands out of my pockets.
-None, but time of day makes a big difference for me in practicing
well.
-Better energy/embouchure/ fingering early on, and sloppier play
/poor lip control after a long workday.
Practicing is fruitful early-and a waste when fatigued, but an
enjoyable waste.
It boils down to demanding (and getting) more from yourself when
well energized and accepting perhaps more sloppy, status quo play
later on. -YMMV-
Its all good.
Dick Cavett: Do you get up and play music every day?
Jimi Hendrix: I try to get up every day.
Heh, heh, another good one. 
Loren
Try the Alexander technique for posture.
I sit up “dead straight” (and I “horse” [blow] down my flute if it’s cold. 
).
I have what is known as a “posh” posture…my posture is aligned and relaxed. I don’t know if that makes any sense.
I used to know someone who placed their wooden Martin Doyle flute on the radiator to “warm it up”…Don’t do this!
This helps the hands, not the shoulders, but I like to wash dishes before I play. The hot water is sothing and loosens up my arthritic joints.
What a coincidence - I like to play instead of wash dishes!
When I started weight training a few years ago, my various flute-related hand and shoulder problems improved almost immediately. You can’t go wrong with strengthening the whole system of muscles involved in playing your instrument – arms, back, shoulders, actually your whole body, thinking about it. Probably the upper-body lifts that stress groups of muscles are the most beneficial – bench press and/or pushup, military press, lat pulldown and/or chinup, pullover, seated and upright rows, etc. – plus core conditioning (crunches, leg lifts, lower back extension, squats, deadlifts) to improve posture.
Is there a potential problem with weight training if it involves adding bulk to your arms and shoulders? Since muscle is heavy and playing the flute involves holding your arms up above their relaxed position for long periods… I only ask because I remember a builder friend who worked a lot on ceilings saying that his ‘body builder’ colleagues had real problems to hold their arms above their heads for long.
Mind you I’m sure that ‘body building’ wasn’t what Ro3b had in mind, and the point about strengthening the upper body is well made and reminds me I need to renew that gym membership 
Interesting. I haven’t heard of this being a problem. But yeah, body building is a different world. Genetics plays a huge role – for the mass of humanity, getting really huge just isn’t an option unless anabolic steroids are involved.
Weight training helps flute playing, is my experience.
I think swimming helps blowing, too.
As someone that has had to deal with shoulder problems from flute playing, my advice is to be careful. If you do a lot of playing, your “bench press” muscles (and internal rotator muscles) are probably overdeveloped. This can lead to imbalances in the shoulder, resulting in impingement syndrome and rotator cuff tears. I’d recommend concentrating on the muscles at the back of the shoulder (external rotators) and upper back. I’ve been focusing on these exercises, which is relieving some of my issues.
Dana
Hmmm, I myself have been dealing with shoulder/upper back problems. I also have been having secondary effects in my hands/wrists. I’m pretty sure that the hand & wrist problems are due to ulnar nerve compression. The spots in my upper back and shoulders that hurt are right at the area where the Ulnar nerve comes off the spine. My girlfriend, who’s a D.O. said that my right scapula (shoulder bone) is actually about 3/4" higher standing in a relaxed position and that my muscles there are significantly larger. In my case, I think I have a muscle imbalance from fiddle playing. My bow arm side is more developed. I always have the problem when playing both instruments. Especially if I go to the fiddle after playing flute for a bit. I think the flute brings the symptoms out, but the underlying problem has been caused by playing the fiddle for the last 6 years. A while back when I didn’t have a fiddle for a few months and was forced to take a break from that, flute playing didn’t really bother me.
I do strength training as well. I think the caveat for musicians is to do it, but avoid really heavy weights with low reps. This can shorten the muscles. I usually do core strength stuff. Pushups, crunches, rows etc. I unfortunately must do a modicum of strength training as my job involves lifting/carrying people. Best to find a balance point.
God gave us souls that long to play music,
and bods that break down when we do.
The spirit is willing…
Stinks, don’t it? 
I’ve wondered for a while if some of this isn’t related to our modern way of life. Certainly classical musicians have always had to deal with pain and imjuries due to the practice demands and technique required of them. However, at least from what I’ve read of old accounts and narratives, there doesn’t seem to be as much occurrence of this in previous generations of folk and traditional musicians. Our lifestyle is certainly more stressful these days, which causes tension in the body, plus so many of us sit at desks and work stations for hours, or ride around in uncomfortable vehicles for 12+ hours at time (moi). I know that quite frequently, my whole body feels tense and sore after a week of working. At my previous job, I wasn’t in a vehicle all day and also wasn’t confined to a desk. I got to let my body go through more motion, activitiy and postural changes. I never really felt tense or sore at the end of the day or week.