Pain on left shoulder blade.

[Jaime_Dergut]

Hello, recently I have gotten this pain on my left shoulder blade and some muscles on my left arm where my wrist flexors are.

Is this normal? Should I go to a chiropractor to check it?

I noticed this pains appeared recently after spending 7 hours practicing a song until I mastered it. It comes back sometimes after I play more than an hour, especially if I play with the bass.

The accordions I have weight between 6, 8 and 10 kilos. (16,18,22 lbs)

Thanks for your attention.

 

[Dingo40]

I noticed this pains appeared recently after spending 7 hours practicing a song until I mastered it. It comes back sometimes after I play more than an hour, especially if I play with the bass.

Welcome Jaime,
Man, I'm surprised that's all!
Have you ever heard the expression "overdoing it "?
What you've done is overstrained your arm/shoulder by intense overuse.
The cure is to rest the affected parts with very gradual resumption of reasonable activity!
Complete recovery could take weeks or months.
See here:

repetitive strain injury - Google Search

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Welcome Jaime,
Man, I'm surprised that's all!
Have you ever heard the expression "overdoing it "?
What you've done is overstrained your arm/shoulder by intense overuse.
The cure is to rest the affected parts with very gradual resumption of reasonable activity!

Thanks for the feedback, Dingo.

I think you might be right and I over do it. I enjoy playing this instrument so much that I don't even realize how much time it passes while I'm practicing or playing with it. I get overexcited.

I will be more careful to regulate my sessions more. Hopefully, my left shoulder will get used to it.

Regards.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

Once you are healed, and ready to practice again, you might want to try this kind of routine:

1. Forty-five minutes including Hanon and working on a piece you want to learn

2. A fifteen minute break including some walking

3. Forty-five minutes including scales and working some more on a piece you’ve already learned but want to “polish”

4. Another fifteen minute break including walking and stretching

5. Forty-five minutes including some right hand chord practice and, finally, playing a piece of your choice that you especially like.

Do that every day.

I hope this helps.

 

[dvdwmth]

I have no specialized knowledge about this so take what I’m about to say accordingly.

You need to take things like this seriously. Some injuries like this can lead to irreversible nerve damage and muscle loss if you don’t deal with them appropriately. You could end up permanently unable to play your instrument.

You need to find a source of info about ergonomics and safe technique. I know one musician (piano) who has a teacher who specialized in this.

Physiotherapists can be helpful.

Hopefully your current issue isn’t that serious but your body is telling you something. No point in practising in a way that causes you to be unable to play.

Good luck

 

[Happy girl]

Yes I agree with dvdwmth.
I had rotator cuff procedure for exactly the same symptoms. Physio and complete recovery took a year.
I have since read an interesting article regarding the importance of the alignment of the head and neck published, in an Alexandra Technique handbook.
Judging from their theory, although my posture was ok, I had been leaning my head slightly back putting strain on my neck.
Now when playing I make sure that the crown of my head is in perfect alignment with my neck. ( This I did by altering the height of the music stand, or the height of the chair)
I have found this to be my remedy for playing without strain.

 

[lmschgo]

I have no specialized knowledge about this so take what I’m about to say accordingly.

You need to take things like this seriously. Some injuries like this can lead to irreversible nerve damage and muscle loss if you don’t deal with them appropriately. You could end up permanently unable to play your instrument.

You need to find a source of info about ergonomics and safe technique. I know one musician (piano) who has a teacher who specialized in this.

Physiotherapists can be helpful.

Hopefully your current issue isn’t that serious but your body is telling you something. No point in practising in a way that causes you to be unable to play.

Good luck

Pain occurring in the shoulder area or radiating down one's arm, can be caused by a nerve pinch/bulging disk in the vicinity of the C6 and C7 vertebrae in the neck. Symptoms could include pain, tingling, numbness and weakness in the shoulders, arms and even hands and fingers could all point to this condition.
I experienced all of those symptoms for over a year before receiving relief through chiropractic therapy, which took many months of visits to achieve total pain relief.
Now 20 years later, I can cause discomfort (considerably milder compared to the initial problem) in the shoulder and arm through poor posture, when sitting for extended periods in front of my computer and occasionally when I am playing my accordion. The remedy is paying attention to my posture.
Exercising may also alleviate some of the symptoms : https://www.healthline.com/health/pinched-nerve-in-neck-exercises

Howard

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

This is very interesting and I'm glad for the feedback of everyone here.

I would follow Alan's advice and do that routine, especially the 15 mins break with a walk.

I just love playing my accordion so much that I lose track of time!

But I better be careful with that so I don't hurt myself and I keep playing for a long time.

Keeping my posture correct is key, I believe.

 

[dvdwmth]

You might also consider your hearing. That’s a long stretch if you were playing in the 80+ db zone. I don’t know what the sound pressure level of an accordion is but I’ll be it can get into the red zone. Apple Watch has a noise app that can get you a close enough reading and there are apps for smart phones.

If anyone has measured or found info I’d love to know.

I have hearing loss and it’s very disheartening.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

You might also consider your hearing. That’s a long stretch if you were playing in the 80+ db zone. I don’t know what the sound pressure level of an accordion is but I’ll be it can get into the red zone. Apple Watch has a noise app that can get you a close enough reading and there are apps for smart phones.

If anyone has measured or found info I’d love to know.

I have hearing loss and it’s very disheartening.

And that's another reason for me to play on the streets! I can feel the echo of the accordion resonating on my small apartment so that shouldn't be good in the long term.

I can't wait for spring so I can finally get out again.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Update:
is not only my left shoulder, I just noticed that my right arm is also strained bellow the elbow and wrist.

I got way too excited this last winter and I need more physical activity.


Time to go back to archery and some stretching exercises every morning.

 

[dvdwmth]

For me, swimming accomplished what physio therapists could not, relieving me of a nasty shoulder problem that lasted many months. Only took three swims.

 

[debra]

Pain in the left shoulder when playing such lightweight accordions is certainly not normal. (The right arm is a different story as it is holding up your hand all the time.)
A common cause for pain in the left shoulder is incorrect positioning of the left shoulder strap. I have this problem (on a heavier accordion) when the left strap is hanging too far to the left. You should first of all always use a back strap and make sure the back strap itself sits high enough and is short enough to pull the left shoulder strap further to the right towards your neck so the shoulder strap sits midway over your shoulder and not too far to the left, over the shoulder joint.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

For me, swimming accomplished what physio therapists could not, relieving me of a nasty shoulder problem that lasted many months. Only took three swims.

I agree with you.
I don't trust physio therapists at all (it's part of their business to keep people going to them, after all).

I will consider learning how to swim and going back to horse riding too.

 

[Jaime_Dergut]

Pain in the left shoulder when playing such lightweight accordions is certainly not normal. (The right arm is a different story as it is holding up your hand all the time.)
A common cause for pain in the left shoulder is incorrect positioning of the left shoulder strap. I have this problem (on a heavier accordion) when the left strap is hanging too far to the left. You should first of all always use a back strap and make sure the back strap itself sits high enough and is short enough to pull the left shoulder strap further to the right towards your neck so the shoulder strap sits midway over your shoulder and not too far to the left, over the shoulder joint.

I played with a light Scandalli for several months and I really never got tired of it ( although, I wasn't really playing properly at all) .

When I started to feel pain, however, was when I got a bigger Petosa accordion of 10 kg (22 lbs) and the original straps were too thin for my chest and shoulder. I was holding the whole thing on my back and put an extra amount of stress on my left arm.

I bought larger straps later to solve this, but this was before my 7 hours practice so I still strained my muscles.

With the new straps, I'm making sure that the accordion weight rest on my left leg.Now I just have to wait a bit until my muscles have healed properly.

 

[lordzedd]

I don't trust physio therapists at all (it's part of their business to keep people going with them, after all).

This hasn't been my experience with PT (they've been happy to see me improve and leave), but I would characterize my experience with US chiropractors this way.

Separately, I think learning to swim would be an excellent idea even if you weren't intending to use it as physical conditioning.

 

[Tom]

I have similar pains (see Big Yellow Taxi). It was the physical therapist who (finally) made the diagnosis that seems plausible and proscribed excercises that seem to help. It's been a game changer, although she says to expect up to 5 months for good relief. The stretches mentioned on this thread are good too. Thanks!

 

[Dingo40]

Pain is nature's way of telling you to slow down!

 

[debra]

Pain is nature's way of telling you to slow down!

Not necessarily. It's also nature's way of telling you you're doing something wrong. The right posture, the right position of the straps... it can all help to allow you to play more without nature telling you to stop.
There were two instances of me having left shoulder problems:
1) I bought a Hohner Artiste X S, weighing 18kg, and started practicing a lot. (I was making the switch from PA to CBA.) Despite the right posture and strap position the accordion was just too heavy to practice a lot without problems.
2) I practiced (on a lighter instrument) with the left shoulder strap too far to the left, hanging too loosely from the shoulder. After I moved the back strap up so that the left shoulder strap stayed better on the shoulder, closer to the neck. The pain went away.

 

[Waldo]

Acupuncture.