Guest Blog: Reframing Injury As Opportunity
By Hannah Murray, D.M.A.
I know that title is a trigger. It’s the type of heading that typically gets a “how dare she!” or “she doesn’t understand,” but give me 5 minutes and let’s investigate this.
Hannah Murray, D.M.A.
Take a deep breath.
Injuries are scary, and they’re not just physical trauma. It’s essential to understand that injuries are also emotional. Recovering from them is never a straight line and is usually enmeshed with rebuilding trust in ourselves.
Injuries often heighten our interoception (your internal feeling of yourself – pain, cold, hunger, etc.), making us feel extra sensitive and alert, which sometimes causes more stress and hyper-vigilance around avoiding future injuries.
I often work with musicians struggling with injuries and pain, and I hear about feelings of isolation, that their bodies have betrayed them, or that they failed in some way. Sometimes, the emotional experience can be the most challenging to ‘fix.’
It’s time to find a healthier, more holistic approach to reaching - and crushing - our musical goals. This requires that we reframe injury.
Injury is not failure.
An injury does not mean you are weak or ‘less than’ in any way. It doesn’t mean you failed or that you’ll never make it. It simply means that what you were asking your body to do, or HOW you were asking it to perform, was not sustainable.
Most of the time, severe play-stopping injuries do not just appear out of thin air. Typically, there were warning signs along the way. Your body communicated with you in various ways, asking for help, relief, change, and support.
Unfortunately, we’re not accustomed to listening to those cues. They often seem like a distraction from doing the work, putting in the time, and improving.
Often, we don’t know what to do, even when we hear them. As musicians, one of the most important things we can do is learn to pay attention. And that includes listening to our bodies.
Injury is an opportunity.
…to pay attention.
A chance to change your approach to playing, performing, and practicing. And most importantly, it’s an opportunity to thank your body.
Injury means your system deserves a hug. A break. A rest. An acknowledgment of working hard in the hardest of circumstances. We should all thank our bodies for persevering when we demand so much from them. Compassion is one of the most important components of healing.
Injury means it wasn’t working. So how can you ‘fix’ it?
First of all. Nobody needs to be fixed.
That mindset is the first thing to address. You are not broken, but there are a few updates that will help.
Sometimes we’re demanding too much time in the practice room.
Sometimes we need to update our posture.
Sometimes there’s a more efficient movement pattern we need to develop.
Often, it means there’s a happy medium of efficiency and approach that we have not yet found.
The following are a few questions that deserve observation, awareness, and reflection:
How can you redefine practice time to be effective without being exhausting?
What other strategies can you use to find musical success?
How’s your posture?
What can be optimized in your relationship with your instrument?
Could you benefit from more strength? What about your range of motion?
Are you using tension effectively, or is it getting in the way of your best playing?
These are great questions to address at any stage of your career, from student to elite performer, injured or thriving. Nobody is perfect. We all have room for improvement.
Finding the solution that best fits your needs might take a little outside perspective.
How can I help?
I love teaching musicians about anatomy, whether they need more resources while recovering from an injury or just want to take their playing to the next level. Helping musicians thrive is my passion.
You can book a free consult with me on corpSonore to discuss your specific needs and issues, and if I can’t help, I know lots of people who can!
Join a movement class on corpSonore – as an Honesty Pill reader, you’re VIP, so use code HP10 at checkout for 1 free class (either live or on-demand).
Email me with any questions at hannah@corpsonore.com
About Dr. Murray
Dr. Hannah Murray is a classically trained violinist and musicians’ health specialist based in Los Angeles, California. She is a Timani teacher and certified yoga instructor who works with musicians of all ages and abilities to find ease, reduce discomfort, and optimize movements for more effortless performances.
Hannah is an active and sought-after educator who is regularly invited to give lectures, workshops, and masterclasses across the country on health and wellness topics, posture, Timani, violin pedagogy, and yoga for musicians. She is the founder of corpSonore – sound | body | wellness, a platform for musicians, health and wellness, where she hosts a podcast, curates a newsletter, and leads movement classes for musicians.
As a performer, she has had the privilege of touring internationally with various bands and composers, performing as a principal player in orchestras across the country.
When she’s not helping humans, Hannah enjoys playing music for animals. You can find out more about here at: