Basic Principles for Musician's Focal Dystonia Recovery: Finger, Hand, Forearm Alignment
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- If we pay attention to the way we use our arms and hands in daily life, we quickly notice that the vast majority of the time we instinctively use our fingers, hands, and forearms as an aligned unit (that includes the wrist!). Rediscovering the integrity of that unit is a vital tool in recovery from any injury, including Musician's Focal Dystonia.
How I Recovered from MFD: • How String Players Can...
Physical Logic and MFD Recovery: • Musician's Focal Dysto...
Fundamental Forearm Rotation: • Getting the Left Arm t...
Left Arm Moving Mechanism: • 4 Equal Fingers
@norakrohn
@tillproject
www.norakrohn.com
www.tillproject.com
I'm wondering how/when do you move from creating this foundation using the blueprints from your healthy hand, to focus on the movements of the fingers specifically.
Is it just a natural progression? Are there any specific videos you can point me towards?
Edit: I'm at a point where I can approach and hold a position in the instrument using a more physically natural movement, however the moment I try to make any microadjustments with my fingertips, everything falls apart.
@windy110 The answer to your question is that the technique builds step by step, starting with being able to hold the instrument and then moving toward engaging the string (or whatever mechanism you use to play the notes of your instrument) and toward what we call Walking Hand and Arm, which is the basic moving mechanism. In general, continuing this progression on one's own is extremely difficult and full of potential pitfalls--I say that not to dissuade you or in any way pressure you to seek guidance if that's not what you want. I'm just being honest about the fact that it usually takes knowing the path well in order to keep our brains and bodies from straying from it, and that's hard to do if we don't know it already! You may find this video helpful: ruclips.net/video/kmdJLCzag44/видео.htmlsi=f0uzxyZvW4ukriSn. There are other videos on the @TillProject channel that could get you further along as well, although you'll have to adapt the information if you play another instrument.
One thing I can tell you right away is that if you are thinking of "moving your fingers" that's actually the wrong approach. You'll see in my videos that we're actually designed to bring an entire finger/hand/forearm unit from place to place (try touching spots on your face and you'll see what I mean). So the way to start experiencing that on your instrument would be to put your brain in your forearm and move from there rather than from your fingers. In the end the individual movements of the fingers are of course part of the experience, but in order to get out of pain and injury first we need to connect them to the forearm and understand that the forearm is always the motor. I hope that's helpful.
@norakrohn Thank you for the response, it was very helpful.
I got a couple more questions if you don't mind.
While moving the arm as one unit, am I suppose to move at normal speed or slowly?
Do I focus on the touch sensations in the fingers or do I disregard them?
The "resting down" feeling, should I focus it on the fingers, or the arm?
Are there any signs that can tell me if I'm doing it right or wrong?
Is it ok to feel a little bit of dystonia while you move the arm as one, or should I always aim for no dystonic sensations?
Is there a recommended amount of retraining I should per day? Or can I do as much as I can? Is there such a thing as doing too much?
Thank you in advance.
@@windy110 Tough questions to answer over RUclips comments but I'll try! :) The best thing, if you are able, is to have one-on-one lessons.
- if moving the arm slowly helps you become aware of how you're using your arm and what you're feeling it's fine to go slow; eventually all movements need a certain amount of speed/momentum to make sense (think of walking for example...you can go in slow motion to really focus on what you're doing, but you lose the propulsive quality of your steps)
- "right" and "wrong" are hard to sense for ourselves when we've gotten as confused as most people with dystonia are, which is why one-on-one lessons are so helpful, but if the movement feels similar to movement in the other arm or with a different object that's generally a good sign
- focusing on touch sensations can be helpful or unhelpful depending on the context: if the sensation is bothersome or distracting you can just try to focus on moving the arm as a unit, if the touch sensations help your brain "see" a part of the body that has "disappeared" from our awareness then it's helpful
- resting down is felt in the entire arm, the same way our arm feels at rest when we put our hand on a shelf or our opposite shoulder
- dystonic symptoms are a sign that the brain's strategy isn't 100% accurate or complete, but that doesn't necessarily mean the element you're working on isn't correct; it may just need more repetitions of the right "blueprint" or there may be other elements that need to be learned for the symptom to diminish
- especially in early stages, 10-15 minutes a few times a day of repeating the correct movements is a good amount of practice; too much is unnecessary and will tire the brain and/or risk confusing the correct blueprint with less ideal versions
@@norakrohn Thank you so so much for the answers.
I'd love to get some direct help, however I am a bit of a unique case, I am not a musician, my "instrument" is a computer mouse and keyboard, so I don't think there is anyone out there who can guide me through this.
But your videos are great when I'm able to translate to my situation.
@@windy110 I’ve helped other musicians with typing, so please feel free to contact me through my website if you’d like some assistance! www.norakrohn.com
As a bass and guitar player-how would the Till approach help me overcome my focal dystonia in my fretting hand(curling middle finger)?Thanks.
Hi @johnsmithers5044, the Till Approach is a system of string playing (primarily violin, viola, cello, upright bass) that is based on physical logic, as I describe in my videos. The principles of the approach can be used in an injury recovery context, which includes dystonia, and those same principles can be adapted to other instruments. By dismantling the physical and cognitive context that is giving rise to dystonic symptoms (different in each individual case), in my experience the symptoms gradually dissolve. Please watch some of my other videos or contact me if you'd like to know more.