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Musicians are keenly aware of the dangers of poor posture, sloppy and lazy technique, overuse, excessive impact, and inadequate rest to their career ambitions. The emergence of any chronic, repetitive strain injury can induce enough discomfort and pain to effectively disable them, not only prematurely ending their careers, but making it so they can't even play their beloved instrument anymore.

Symptoms of repetitive strain injury (RSI) include:

* Discomfort, soreness, stiffness, tightness, or a burning sensation in any part of the hands or arms;
* Cold, tingling, or numb hands
* Loss of hand coordination, clumsiness
* Weakness in the hands
* Pain that awakens you at night
* Feeling compelled to massage your arms, wrists, and hands
* Upper-back, shoulder, and/or neck pain (esp. if using a computer)

Since their livelihoods depend on their ability to continue to play (and play well), musicians have, by necessity, found a number of tried-and-true methods for preventing and relieving symptoms of repetitive strain injury. Thankfully, these methods can be applied with equal success by non-musicians as well.

* STAY INFORMED: Learn all you can about the repetitive strain injury or injuries you have or are most at risk of getting. Knowledge is also your preeminent power.

* DO YOUR WARM-UPS: Every musician knows the dangers of skipping over this integral step each time they practice or play, but most of us non-musicians don't ever think about warming up before engaging in a repetitive activity. Athletes too know to stretch before they work out or compete, and to cool down after they're done. Otherwise they don't perform as well in the short term and their long-term durability is severely compromised. Well, warming up doesn't just apply to musicians and athletes. It applies to office workers, construction workers, students, retail salespeople, and everyone else across the employment gamut.

* ANALYZE YOUR TECHNIQUE: Just like musicians, any using an "instrument" of any sort to ply their trade needs to pay keen attention to how they interact with their instrument, and whether a healthier, more ergonomic technique might not be called for. This includes reducing the force or impact with which you touch and use your instrument (ie tapping or pounding on your computer keyboard's keys), discovering the most centered, balanced and fluid posture you can (keeping all joints loosely and comfortably within their range of motion), limiting any use of your body that entails a tensed, fixed position,

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