Stiff fingers after manual work

[Anonymous]

There’s nothing more distressing than hearing your Sax friend’s wives complain about their practice sessions at home.
I’m fortunate in that Bev reminds me to practice if I haven’t already, because she loves to listen to the sound of the Sax.

We also have jobs to do around the house and garden which require hand strength. These leave me with stiff fingers which hinders my playing ability.
Here is one solution I have found which addresses the problem of sore hands and sore wives.

Ask your wife to sit in a chair and place a towel on your lap. Rub her feet with lotion, massaging the toes, sole and heel of each foot. Take your time and use pressure to massage deeply all around the feet. After about 10-15 minutes your wife’s feet will be happy and your fingers will be free and supple again. Call it Sax compensation therapy then you can have a good complaint-free Sax practice session.

[Anonymous]

in the last 2 month i was moving furniture in and out of rooms to empty rooms so the decorator could finish his work a lot quicker.
Some of the days i was too sore and exhausted to practice.

i can understand why these bands have people with them to set things up otherwise they’d be worn out before the gig.

The main problems i have is not to practice straight after a big meal or if i have a bad sore throat, or Playing sax with stomach pains.

Hot shower and pain killers work for me to revitalise aching bones.

Good tip Jeff – thanks for sharing!

have got a tip for revitalising lips when they turn to jelly and just cant carry on playing?

Or one for healing sore lips? for that one i dip my finger in mouth wash every few minutes and rub it on the lower lip and carry on playing, it numbs the pain.

i once played in a room with strangers and had a bad sore throat and cold, and got through by sipping bottled water after every song. But it made the cold worse later on, i’d been better off not playing at all.

[Anonymous]

Hi Sxpoet

I little while ago my Rottweiler had a skin infection on his head which looked like bad acne. We tried everything the vet gave us for six weeks – injections and creams etc. and nothing worked. I decided to throw a spoon of Vitamin C powder in his daily food. Three days later his skin infection was gone completely. Now whenever I see his eyes are messy, we give him a teaspoon of vitamin C powder in his food and the next day his eyes are clear again.

Vitamin C works well for fighting infections, but don’t exert yourself physically when you have a bad cold because you can damage heart muscle. Physical exercise when you have flu is just looking for a heart attack! We buy Buffered Vitamin C powder in a 300g container from the Chemist.

Another tip for colds is when you feel your throat becoming scratchy or sore. Put some pure lemon juice in a glass add a little water – gargle with the lemon water every few hours. The low pH of the lemon juice kills the bacteria and if you can catch it early enough, it will kill the cold completely.
If you have a cold avoid all dairy products because it causes excess mucus in the nose and throat.

Regarding sore lips, I’ve found that it is best to stop practising, because if you carry on playing it takes far longer for them to recover.

Another trick I learnt from cycling, is when you have done too much exercise and your muscles are really sore. Dissolve a Disprin or Asprin in a glass of water and drink it, it thins the blood and helps flush out the lactic acid helping your muscles to recover quicker. Drinking lots of fresh water is always a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Some good tips there Dr Jeff!
thanks for sharing.

i knew a vicar in his 40’s who had the flu and insisted on carying on working. Was working on his garden shed roof had a heart attack and dropped dead.

[Author]

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