It will soon be time for the Edinburgh Festival and we are ready to welcome performers, crew and audience members in need of care after long, tiring days, repetitive strain injury and such like.
Here are some examples of performers we’ve cared for over the years:
Stilt Walker by Glynis Fox
One of the most unusual performers I remember treating presented with pain in their upper back. Nothing unusual there, but they weren’t sitting at a desk all day, they were walking about Edinburgh on stilts, playing bongos. To find the cause of their back pain I had to work with them to look at the way they balanced on the stilts (imagine this on the cobbles of the High Street) where the bongo straps crossed over on their back and how the bongos sat in front of them. Not playing was not an option, so we worked together to figure out the best way to balance on stilts and to change where the bongos were pulling on their mid back while they played.
Opera Singer by Mary Monro
Set and costume designers don’t always think through how it will be for the performer. An opera singer described how she had to perform on a raked stage, in high heels, wearing a heavy wig and headdress. The physical difficulty of maintaining her balance, the discomfort of wearing the costume and the mental stress of trying to achieve her best performance took its toll. We discussed exercises and stretches to help her prepare for her role and relax her mind. We also worked on her throat, diaphragm and back to ensure that her voice had the best chance of producing a high quality performance, despite the physical challenges.
Dancer by Jane Beazley
Some years ago, I had the pleasure of treating one of the backing dancers of a world famous singer, who was performing at Edinburgh Castle. They had hurt their neck and needed a quick fix so they could perform that night. The difficulty I had was trying to figure out which technique their usual osteopath used, as they swore this was the magic fix. We got there in the end and they went away happy. Osteopathy isn’t about specific techniques and other approaches would have worked just as well, but it is about shared decision making and respecting people’s beliefs. Using a different technique might have led to the patient feeling less confident, even if it had fixed the problem.