ways to avoid swollen lip...

[trjeam]

sometimes we have very, very long days of hard playing and it can result into a swollen up lip the next day or just stiff, hard chops that don't want to work right.. What are some things we can do to avoid this??

Right now i know that drinking water helps.
also i heard something about rubbing a little bit of alcohol on the inside on your lip helps too, but i'm not too sure about how that works..

anyone else have any other methods?
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[GrumpyPe0n]

Well first off make sure you properly warm down. On a hard day of high playing, i usually spend about 5-10 minutes playing slow arpeggios starting middle C down to double pedal C. In b/w this I do some 'horse flapping' and strech my chops out which i like to call the 'apple eating technique' to get the blood into my chops and get rid of the lactic acid. If you feel they will be swollen, take some tylenol or something and, just like any other part of the body, take a cup of ice to your top lip. Before rehearsal make sure you properly warm up. Take it slow. Free buzzing, MPC buzzing, long tones. Start slow and work your way up. Dont over do it. Take it easy that rehearsal if you can. Beating a swollen lip will only make it worse.

[_PhilPicc]

When you get a slight break try soaking your lips in ice water. It helps take the swelling down.
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Philip Satterthwaite

We cannot expect you to be with us all the time, but perhaps you could be good enough to keep in touch now and again."
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[boofredlay]

[Heavens2Kadonka]

DONT USE RUBBING ALCHOHOL ON THE INSIDE OF YOUR LIP!!

It only ends in burning, searing agony, with little results. Try hydrogen peroxide. I've found that it works very well on the inside lip. Shoot, I sometime rinse and gargle the stuff when I've had it exceptionally rough.

Try the warm downs GrumpyPeOn mentioned, especially the pedals (I sometimes play a first octave "F" for a time, then lightly tongue a low "C", then lightly tongue down to the pedal "F," where I then play half-steps down...).

Drinking water doesn't help as much as you would think. If you are in a practice and you start swelling or double-buzzing, water does help it a bit. Try bringing a bottled water with you to practice (ASK THE DIRECTOR FIRST!)

After long playing, when you just know your lips are going to "straight suck" in the morning, try this: two regular tylenol, and vaseline on your lips before going to bed. It is a pain removing in morning, but it does some to relieve that leather-feel your lips can get.

[_londonhusker]

If you are going to use hydrogen peroxide, make certain that it has been significantly diluted before it touches your mucous membranes.

Dave
londonhusker

[AverageJoe]

When you know it will be a long, hard day of playing, here are all the tricks I know:

1. Start taking Advil (a better anti-inflammatory than Tylenol) in the morning as prescribed on bottle (2 tabs every 4 hours). This helps to keep swelling down.
2. Drink plenty of water throughout the day (a gallon if possible).
3. Massage facial muscles and lips regularly (helps stimulate blood flow and relax muscles).
4. Flap lips periodically to stimulate capillary action to "flush" the lips with fresh blood (increase this after done playing for the day).
5. Warm down after each session using low long-tones (only about 2-3 minutes).
6. Before bedtime, put Vicks Vapor Rub or Menthalatum on lips (the camphor and menthol act as "meat tenderizers" and promote healing -- helps to restore suppleness to the lips).
7. The next morning, budget time for a long shower, and put face in the stream of water, flap lips, and massage face (this loosens everything up for the new day).

Hope this helps,

Paul Poovey
(edited spelling errors)


[ This Message was edited by: AverageJoe on 2004-06-17 11:16 ]

[Billy B]

The best salve I have found is Bag Balm used for cows teats. Comes in a green tin.

[redface]

A good night's sleep always helps. And lots of water before, during and after you play.

[bachstrad]

Please be very, very careful with the use of Advil. It is very hard on the stomach in prolonged use. I learned this the hard way, I used them for another condition I had, taking about 2 every couple days for a year and developed stomach ulcers at age 13. Even now that it is a handful of years later and the ulcers are mostly gone (I still suffer from residual acid problems that act on a weakened stomach lining), I am very weary of advil and other Ibuprofen based anti-inflammatories. You shouldn't worry if you just take them every so often, just be careful, my doctor said he had seen many cases like mine.

[GrumpyPe0n]

Well i think if a trumpet player must use advil every few days to keep swelling down from his playing then I think he is doing something wrong with his playing. So before you take advil every other night or something, recheck your emboucher.

[blasticore]

[murph66]

Chops T.I.C. from Zaja seems to help- it's non greasy so you can play with it on and it helps swelling- I've used it during rehersals at times-
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[redhawktrumpet85]

If you know it's going to be a long rehearsal day, make sure you get a good warm up in. Practice softly so that you are setting up the most efficient way to play. Pace yourself during rehearsals...if someone else is on the same part as you, trade off. If not, do what you can, but try to play as softly as you can get away with, unless it is a dress rehearsal. After the rehearsal, warm down like everyone has said, and again, do it softly. This way you won't be mashing it into your face and you will actually promote excellent circulation that should remove a lot of the lactic acid from your face. The next day, give yourself extra time to warm up and really shake things out, and you should be golden. I hope this helps!
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Matt Miller

[LeeC]

Well this advice kind of demands that you have some flexibility in your performance playing demands.

The barometer I use for endurance and range is this: Add a minor third (higher) to whatever notes can be played with the horn resting on the palm of the left hand. Neither practice above this range nor perform such notes unless as a cap note to the final tune.

Not trying to advocate the pressureless playing method as found in Stevens-Costello. This is just a sure fire way to avoid nasty lip reactions related to over training/strain.

So if you can palm a High F or so (that's my normal limit at present) then the high A flat is the limit for both practice and performance.

It works! With this guideline you can still use as much pressure as needed to get whatever notes you already have within your domain and yet easily avoid undue force. It's also a good way to gauge progress in the range department. I used to just barely be able to palm the high E and now it's a solid note on the palm and can even palm the G sometimes.

[g27court]

Ok... I have a pretty major lip swelling problem (cuz I think I'm allergic to a preservative or i'm sun sensititve or something - it correlates to sun exposure and foods i eat) so I have done a lot of research on this. These are the suggestions I've gotten throughout the past year or so..

Vitamin E capsule... poke a hole in it and put it straight on your lips for overnight - its a good conditioning treatment for you lips.

Burts Bees... some people like the al'naturale and it includes that Vitamin E i was talkin 'bout

IF YOU HAVE A MAJOR GIG NEXT DAY ONLY cuz its kinda gross... but believe it or not it does work and some of the big guys in NYC use it... hemeroid gel - just put a little on your lips the night before and try NOT to lick them. It doesn't taste very bad - it just is wierd cuz of the real use of it.

The thing I have found that works quite well and some use it as a "emergency warmup" is called Domeboro... its an astringent that you should buy in the Powder Packets... its kinda expensive (like $12) but you will have it for your entire life. Take a packet and disolve it either as directed or I use one packet and like 1/2 cup water (i think) and put it in a small bottle that you can carry in your gig bag. Just shake it up, take your finger and dip it in and spread it over your lips... it really kills the swelling and if you're in a rush and you're not swollen it sorta feels like you can warm up quicker - I don't know why.

Also, if you have quite a problem... occuring regularly - make sure you think about how much pressure you are using when you play as well as your diet... salty foods will make you retain water so Cut out those chips, processed cheeses, pizza, nachos, etc. on big gig weeks.

Hope this helps - let me know if you try them and if they work for you!

[dbacon]

Way to avoid swollen chops. Don't play so loud all the time.

[EddieLewis]

One thing that is gauranteed to remove any swelling you've got is an hour of cardiovascular exercise. I discovered this when I first began walking every day (something I don't do anymore for reasons I won't go into). If I walked six miles or more, there's absolutely no way a swollen lip could survive that.

The reasons why seem abvious to me, but I'm not sure I really know. To me, it seems as if the better blood circulation flushes all of that stuff out of the lip to make the swelling go down. There's also the possibility that muscle fibers are being recharged with oxigen. I forget all the lingo that we studied in biology, but I remember it had to do with ATP and anarobic activity in the muscles.

But regardless of the WHY, I know it works.

I recently moved to a house which is pretty close to one of those walking trails and once the temps get back down into the low 90s, I'm going to start walking again.

[dbacon]

Eddie, get a treadmill. Temps here in Phoenix are about 110 this week. Put on the German Brass, or HBO and do your work out.