For Musicians
Musician
Wellness
Musicians are performing artists with an athlete's physical demands. Up to 93% will experience musculoskeletal symptoms in their lifetime. Dr. Meghan provides the rare specialized care that keeps you playing at your best — for a lifetime.
Get In TouchMusculoskeletal Symptoms
Professional Musicians
is a Niche Within PT
The Approach
The Musical Athlete
Deserves Specialized Care
Playing an instrument is physically demanding in ways that most people don't see. A violinist's shoulder bears the weight of posture held for hours. A pianist's forearms execute thousands of micro-repetitions per session. A guitarist's wrist absorbs tension most clinicians never examine. These are athletes — and they deserve to be treated as such.
Dr. Meghan offers a rare combination of orthopedic board certification (OCS), manual therapy expertise, dry needling, and performing arts awareness that addresses the root cause of a musician's pain — not just the symptom. She evaluates posture, instrument ergonomics, and movement patterns holistically, including how you actually hold and play.
Specializing in musicians is an uncommon niche within physical therapy. Dr. Meghan's commitment to this population means her musicians don't receive generic care — they receive treatment built around the specific physical demands of their instrument and performance schedule.
"In a musician's lifetime, up to 93% will experience musculoskeletal symptoms. Early intervention is not optional — it is the difference between a long career and a shortened one."Performing Arts Medicine — Clinical Research
What We Offer
Musician Wellness Services
Instrument-Specific Assessment
Evaluation of your posture, technique, and movement patterns as you actually hold and play — identifying the specific biomechanical stressors your instrument places on your body.
Overuse Injury Treatment
Targeted care for tendinitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, and myofascial pain — the most common career-threatening conditions in performing musicians.
Postural Correction
Addressing the "C-shaped" spines and forward-head postures developed during long practice sessions — corrected before they become chronic neck, shoulder, and back pain.
Manual Therapy
Hands-on joint mobilization, soft tissue manipulation, and myofascial release to restore mobility, reduce tension, and relieve pain in the structures most stressed by your playing.
Dry Needling
Precise trigger point therapy for the forearm, hand, shoulder, and neck — releasing the deep muscular tension that builds through repetitive practice and performance schedules.
Ergonomic Modification
Practical guidance on instrument setup, chair height, shoulder rests, key extensions, and playing position — small adjustments that meaningfully reduce cumulative physical load.
Who We Treat
Every Instrument.
Every Level.
Whether you're a conservatory student putting in eight-hour practice days, a touring professional navigating the physical toll of performance schedules, or an adult learner who picked up the guitar at 50 and is feeling the effects — Dr. Meghan's care is calibrated to you.
String players, pianists, guitarists, brass and woodwind musicians, drummers — each instrument places unique demands on the body and requires different clinical attention. Symptoms are most common when practice intensity increases suddenly, technique changes, or when playing over the age of 50. None of these are reasons to stop. They're reasons to get ahead of injury before it becomes career-limiting.
Common Conditions Treated
What Brings Musicians In
Tendinitis / Tendinopathy
Inflammation and degeneration of the tendons in the forearm, wrist, and elbow from repetitive playing motions. One of the most common career-threatening conditions in string and keyboard musicians.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Compression of the median nerve at the wrist causing numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand — particularly prevalent in pianists and guitarists.
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Nerve or vascular compression between the collarbone and first rib, often caused by sustained postures required for holding instruments like violin and viola.
Neck & Shoulder Pain
Chronic tension and pain from sustained postures, asymmetrical instrument holds, and compensatory patterns developed over years of playing without ergonomic awareness.
Focal Dystonia
A neurological condition causing involuntary muscle contractions and loss of fine motor control in the playing hand — requiring specialized neuromuscular reeducation and carefully managed rehabilitation.
Myofascial Pain Syndrome
Widespread muscle pain and trigger points that develop from sustained tension, poor posture, and overuse — highly responsive to dry needling and manual therapy combined.
Prevention
The Daily Practice
Off the Stage
The same discipline that makes a great musician — daily practice, incremental improvement, attention to detail — applies directly to injury prevention. Dr. Meghan works with musicians to build a physical routine that supports their instrument practice, not just their rehearsal schedule.
Injury risk is highest when practice volume increases suddenly, when technique changes, or when rest and recovery are neglected. The good news: most music-related injuries are preventable with the right guidance.
Warm-Up — 5 Minutes
Large muscle group movements followed by full range of motion for the neck, shoulders, and wrists before touching the instrument.
Instrument Warm-Up
Scales and technical exercises at a gentle pace — easing into the physical demands before increasing intensity or complexity.
Breaks During Practice
Frequent short breaks with posture changes every 25–30 minutes. Standing, stretching, and resetting the body before returning to the instrument.
Cool-Down — 5 Minutes
Slow, gentle stretching of all involved muscles — holding each stretch for at least 30 seconds to allow tissue to release after sustained effort.
Ready to Begin
Your instrument
needs you healthy.
Whether you're managing an existing injury, noticing early warning signs, or simply want to protect a career you've devoted your life to — Dr. Meghan is here to help you keep playing.