Healthy music pedagogy and prevention programmes are topics at the National Music Health Day on 9 November in Lucerne. Renowned rheumatologist Christoph Reich also builds a bridge to sports medicine. A short interview.
Christoph Reich is a member of Swissmedmusica and was head team doctor at Zurich Football Club for several years. He heads the medical service of the Swiss Paralympic Committee, is the association doctor of the Swiss Association for Disabled Sports Plusport and the doctor in charge of the Regional Performance Centre for Rhythmic Gymnastics.
What can sports medicine teach musicians?
Christoph Reich: In short: a sober look at the mechanics of movement and the state of training. Despite all the emotions involved and the importance of physical expression in individual sports, sport ultimately has many very factual aspects: Counting, measuring and direct comparison, and so it is not surprising that movement analysis, knowledge of the physical load-bearing capacity of tendons and a look at the state of training are very present in everyday sport.
What can musicians learn from sports medicine?
Thanks to musicians’ medicine and music physiology, this knowledge is now also very present in music education, and it has also reached musicians. Ultimately, it’s about being in close contact with your own body when organising exercise and working in partnership with it. Our bodies are very resilient, but only to the stresses for which they have been well prepared.
More about the National Music Health Day on 9 November 2024 in Lucerne: swissmedmusica.ch/gesundheitstag