For those of you who have known me for a while, you know that I have a love/hate relationship with my kids and their softball season.
While I love being involved and watching them grow, and I’m fascinated by the mental aspect of the game – (you get one shot, and it’s the pitcher against the batter. And 99 times out of 100, whoever is the more aggressive player wins that battle…)
I really do love getting out there with my girls and watching them grow, but geez- the parents sure can be a drag! The complaining, the high maintenance, the lack of appreciation for all the VOLUNTEER work the coaches put in to helping their kids. Plus, I’m on the board for the softball league, so that’s a whole other block of time devoted to them…
Well, the season is about to go into full swing here pretty soon, and this past weekend was one of the last weekends we had for other stuff. And 3 of my 4 kids had a piano recital. It was pretty cool to watch them, especially my little guy. He’s 6, and he’s SUPER shy. He had to get up in front of the whole audience, say his name, how old he was, and what songs he would be playing.
I’m pretty sure he was the only one in the whole room who could hear what he was saying. Lol.
He told me afterwards that his hands were shaking SO BAD the entire time, and he was surprised he could even play the songs!
Well, there were about 20-25 kids who performed, ages 5-17. And some of these kids were really, really good.
Of course, while I sat there admiring their hard work they’ve all put into practicing and developing their music skills, I also was watching their position while they were in front of the piano. For the most part, they were all sitting up very straight, their arms were moving quite a bit, and they all seemed pretty limber.
I couldn’t help but think about the average adult sitting at a desk, or sitting in the car- hunched over, head out in front of themselves, and using a mouse creating carpal tunnel.
You see, we didn’t used to have these problems we have now. People have played the piano for hundreds of years, and we never had issues of carpal tunnel like we do now during the computer age.
But playing the piano, or using old fashioned typewriters (you know, the kind where you had to physically PRESS the keys and push hard enough to have the lever come up to stamp the paper)- your hands and arms work completely different using those things than our modern day computers.
While the keys on a modern keyboard are easier to press, it actually creates quite a bit of strain on our wrists. Our wrists are in more extension, for longer periods of time. Plus, we are able to type faster, so there is an issue with more overuse of these muscles and tendons…
Well, a lot of us still do need to sit at a computer, we do need to type and get work done- but we can absolutely set up our work station so we put as little load on our joints and muscles as we possibly can. If you’re someone who does this stuff minimally, you can probably get away with a crummy set up, but if you spend a lot of time at your work station or driving in a car, you have GOT to set things up properly so you minimize the toll it takes on your body.
Here are a couple diagrams suggesting how to set things up:
The key is to try and have everything at 90 degree angles as much as possible. And if you have space for a pad to put under your wrists, this will help keep the wrist out of extension, and it will take some pressure off that area.
And in your car, the same principles apply- I also recommend sitting in your car up straight, THEN positioning your mirrors. That way, if you do slouch- when you go to look in the mirror, it’ll be a reminder to sit up straight!
These tips should help decrease all that wear and tear you’re putting on your body. If you also want to start doing stretches to help with your posture and take the pain off your back, check out my 6 Dont’s of Stretching here…
Stay healthy!
