December 27th, 2018

Chops feel beat up, tired and fatigued? Must read this!

​One of the most common complaints and concerns that I hear from brass players seeking lessons is that their chops feel beat up, tired and fatigued. In several instances the brass player is considering quitting all together. They experience  lack of endurance, decreased range, facial pain, and strange sensations in the facial muscles such as trembling, itching and sometime numbness. In many cases, these symptoms are due to years of playing and practicing in a tense manner. The nerves and muscles in the face finally “give out” and no longer respond effectively. This can be from playing and practicing incorrectly and inefficiently. Practicing in this manner can cause the muscles and nerves to try to protect themselves by shutting down their ability to function correctly. Practicing without the appropriate amount of rest can condition the facial muscles to become tight. With proper diagnosis, there is effective treatment for these symptoms. 

Basic neurological explanation which explains fatigue.

There are 12 cranial nerves which extend from the back of the neck to the brain. Each nerve is associated with different parts of the brain. The 7th cranial nerve called the facial nerve is the one that effects the muscles in the embouchure. When the muscles in the embouchure are overused over time, they become conditioned to tighten up and become inflamed. Over time, the 7th cranial nerve (facial nerve) begins to become conditioned to send signals to the facial muscles to tighten up.  Years of unintentional overuse can cause an autonomic reaction in which the brain associates playing a brass instrument with muscle tightening which causes fatigue. The treatment for this is to re-condition the way your brain perceives brass playing. In theory, retraining your playing habits to perform in a relaxed manner with appropriate muscle use will reduce inflammation and muscle fatigue. Practicing and playing in this manner will also train the muscles in the face to associate playing the instrument with being relaxed. This new process of playing typically shows significant improvement in about 90 days. What this means is you can train your muscles so you can play more relaxed and associate playing in a more relaxed manner. The process usually increases range, endurance and treats the beat up feeling we get after playing to much. This may sound complicated but fortunately it is fairly easy to treat. 
 
Why 90 days? The brain usually develops new synapses (also called neural connections) about every 30 days. Developing a new habit and establishing this habit as second nature would take about 90 days. Everyone is different of course it may take more or less time depending on the person. If nerve damage is evident, then the process may take longer depending on the extent of the damage.
 
Treatment includes a series of exercises that are specifically tailored to each student based on his or her symptoms.
For more information about these exercises, click here. 

Thank you to Matt Burke -  The facial nerve (7th cranial nerve) that controls the muscles of the embouchure (and indeed most of the muscles of facial expression), not the trigeminal nerve. The trigeminal nerve is a largely a sensory nerve, with a motor branch that serves the muscles involved in chewing. Just to focus in a little more, the trigeminal nerve is responsible for most of the sensations within the face, or impulses travelling TO the brain, whereas the facial nerve is 100% motor in function, directing impulses FROM the brain to move the muscles of the face and head.
The facial nerve is outlined in orange below. ​