No Pain, No Gain? Why That Mindset Destroys Musicians’ Health

Musicians Need to Treat Their Bodies Like Athletes

Unfortunately, you hear it on TV and in the gym all the time: a young footballer collapses with cardiac arrest on the pitch, and suddenly everyone screams, “Mandatory medical check-ups for athletes, now!” They’re right. But strangely, almost nobody talks about musicians.

Professional musicians are top athletes of fine motor skills. Hours of practice, heavy instruments, bad posture, stage stress, travel, lack of sleep – it’s a physical and mental war on your body. If a footballer needs medical supervision, a serious guitarist or pianist absolutely does too.

The difference? When a sport injury happens, people react. When a musician’s body breaks down, it’s often ignored or dismissed as “part of the job”.

Listen to Your Body: Pain Is Not Progress

We all joke, “No pain, no gain”, but pain is not a badge of honor. It’s a red warning light.
Pain tells you that you’re pushing beyond what your body can handle. Ignoring it doesn’t make you tough; it makes you stupid – and it can shorten your career.

Pushing through numb fingers, burning shoulders or stabbing wrist pain can lead to:

tendonitis and inflammation
nerve compression (carpal tunnel, pinched nerves)
chronic back and neck problems
months or years of forced rest

When your body says “stop”, you stop. That’s not weakness – that’s professionalism. Say, “Enough for today,” or “I don’t play guitar until this is checked.” Better to lose one day of practice than six months of your career.

Why Music Schools Should Teach Health and Injury Prevention

Looking back, one of the things I missed most – and that is still largely ignored – is mandatory medical supervision and body awareness for music students.

At Belgian music school there was almost zero talk about posture, load on joints, or how many hours of practice a body can actually handle. Health was basically a taboo topic.

At Musicians Institute in Hollywood, it was the opposite. There, they openly talked about:

which instruments put which kind of stress on the body
how many hours of practice per day were still safe
how to warm up, stretch and recover
when to see a specialist instead of “pushing through”

Say what you want about the Americans, but in this area they were easily 30–50 years ahead.

Lessons From the Musicians Institute: What I Learned the Hard Way

At Musicians Institute, it wasn’t taboo when a teacher had health problems. Students were allowed to see the ugly side. One of my guitar teachers, Ken Steiger, was “out” for six months because of tingling and loss of sensation in his left hand – a nightmare for a shredder. The diagnosis: pinched spinal nerves. The treatment: surgery plus half a year of recovery.

We also got a very direct message in class:

Pain is not normal. If you have recurring pain, you stop playing and see a specialist.
One hour of practice equals 50 minutes of playing and 10 minutes of physiotherapy-style exercises.

That formula burned into my brain. I wish every young guitarist heard it on day one.

Healthy Practice Rules for Guitarists and Musicians

If you want a long, productive career instead of burning out at 30, start using rules like these:

Pain = stop. Not “slow down”, not “one more take”. Stop and figure out why it hurts.
Warm up before you play. Simple finger, wrist, shoulder and back mobility work – 5 minutes is already a huge difference.
Take regular breaks. Every 25–30 minutes, stand up, move, breathe, reset your posture.
Strengthen the body that has to play. Light strength training and mobility work for hands, forearms, shoulders, back and core.
Sleep and recovery are part of practice. No sleep = no growth. Your body repairs during rest, not while you’re grinding scales.
See professionals early. Physio, sports doctor, osteopath – it’s cheaper than surgery and losing your career.

Simple Health Checklist for Musicians

Before you start a heavy practice phase, ask yourself:

Do I have any recurring pain or numbness?
Do I warm up before I play?
Do I move my body outside of music (walking, strength work, stretching)?
Do I sleep enough to recover from long rehearsals and gigs?

If the answer is “no” to most of these, you don’t need more discipline – you need a different strategy.

Bottom line: No pain, no gain is great for gym memes and macho talk. For musicians, it’s a fast track to injury, frustration, and an early exit. Smart, healthy practice keeps you on stage longer – and that’s the only game worth winning.

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