Why are painters like hairdressers? They spend most of the work day with arms suspended out out front of them, using the finest and most expert motor control to create something original and beautiful. As a result their upper trapezius, deltoids, and supraspinatus muscles suffer from overuse, and this results in strains, tendonitis, and bad headaches at the end of a long day. Massage can relieve and restore this overworked area of the body so they can continue to create beautiful works and dos.
A wooden boat is built with screws made of silicon bronze fasteners that must each be screwed in by hand in order to feel for the perfect amount of torque. The kinestetic term for this motion is supination; the act of turning the hand from palm down to palm up. Radial nerve compression can occur over time from overuse of this supinator muscle in the forearm. Many boatbuilders think they are getting carpel tunnel syndrom when they experience tingling and numbness in their fingertips or hands, but often this condition can be alleviated simply through the "unwinding" work of massage.
Authors and writers who sit for long periods of time tend to suffer from piriformis syndrome. Similar to sciatica, this painful irritation is often accompanied by tightness, weakness, and a numb or tingling sensation that runs from the low back into the glutes, hamstrings, calves, sometimes even the feet. Relaxing the tight piriformis can free these writers from a constant, nagging pain that distracts them from their true creative potential.
In the book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell proposes that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field. Musicians are no exception to the rule. Whether their instrument is guitar or flute, the body learns to form itself around the position they must hold during these 10,000 hours of practice and performance. Practice makes permanent. Massage can reduce the fascial "strapping" and relieve the shortened muscles that wreak havoc on a musician's range of motion in art and life. It is impossible to improvise freely without access to the full movement potential of the body, the primary instrument.