Trumpet Playing Maybe Dangerous to Your Health

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

Playing long, hard and high may invoke the Valsalva Maneuver whereby one may effect the fall in blood pressure resulting in dizziness and even fainting. As the pressure inside the chest rises, blood is forced out of pulmonary circulation into the left atrium causing a mild rise in blood pressure. The pressure in the chest impedes the return of blood back into the heart. Subsequently, the output of the heart is reduced and blood pressure falls. When the chest pressure is released, this allows the pulmonary vessels and aorta to re-expand causing a further initial slight fall in blood pressure due to decreased left ventricular return and increased aortic volume, respectively. Blood return to the heart is enhanced by the effect of entry of blood which had been dammed back, causing a rapid increase in cardiac output and of blood pressure. The pressure usually rises above normal before returning to a normal level. Deviation from this response pattern signifies either abnormal heart function or abnormal automatic nervous control of the heart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver

Kadune · Heavyweight Member Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 662

Which is why playing with tension is bad. If you breathe and stay relaxed, you can bypass the Valsalva maneuver. Frank Campos talks about it in great deal in his book Trumpet Technique.

ChrisP · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:57 am Post subject:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH <faint>

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lmf · Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:59 am Post subject:

Hi, Majestic,

I guess I'll return to playing my "easy blowing" kazoo and get rid of the horns.

Or, I could just "relax" and keep on playing the horns. By the way, I've not experienced any ill effects so far, except neighbors complaining about "the sounds of practice."

I'm a "finished" player as the neighbors sought to "finish me off" after practice.

Best wishes,

Lloyd

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

fraserhutch · Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:

So what's the point of this? It didn't stop you when you were warned that playing trumpet would have a detrimental effect on your personality, did it?
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westview1900 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 09 Aug 2005 Posts: 1617

Is this the same thing which occurs when you sneeze and if so, is sneezing harmful to your health?
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Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

It depends on how one sneezes. If one exhales the sneeze, then there is no back pressure; thus, no VM. If one holds the sneeze in, imploding it, then there is VM.

As a side note, my wife’s asthma doctor said that every time she coughs, scare tissue is formed in the lung tissue. If one implodes a sneeze, he is doing the same thing.

If you want to save your lungs for trumpet playing, let your sneeze out. But please cover your nose/mouth with a tissue first.

Tyler Williams · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 8:38 am Post subject:

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

FYI, I’m in to a lot of sports. My trainer keeps telling me that pressure on your body is good but don’t over do it. I asked him what this means. He said never go beyond 75 – 85 percent of your capability to perform while training. If you should go 100 %, then your body is not building up but rather being destroyed and you will need to take a couple of days off to recuperate. Muscles are muscles where ever they are in the legs, arms or face/lips; so, the same principle applies.

When one deprives one’s heart and brain of blood (VM), then there is no build up involved, only a tear down effect. It would seem that it stands to reason that the recuperation time would be greater for a trumpet player than for an athlete.

I am not here to discourage anybody, but only to say beware.

devilspie · Regular Member Joined: 20 Oct 2007 Posts: 45

Imagine the possibilities with your lady/man:

[Lights are dim. You're alone with your lady/man. A slow groove by d'angelo plays softly in the background...]

"Baby, I got something I gotta tell you. You know I got that big gig tomorrow. Well, I saw the doctor today. This is hard for me to say...but he says if I play, I could invoke the Valsalva Maneuver...."

"Oh [insert your name here]!!!! That could cause a dangerous -- even deadly -- fall in blood pressure!!! Please tell me it's not true!!"

"I'm sorry baby, but, yes, it's true, it's true. But I gotta go on. I gotta play. 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' just won't be the same without that double high C."

"But [your name]!! Can't you just take it down an octave? Or can't the band just play a tritone substitution, thereby enabling you to play a much safer, but still harmonically pleasant F#?!! Won't you? For me???!!"

"No baby, I'm sorry, but they need that double high C. This is something I've got to do. For me. For the guys in the band. For the people in the audience. For everything that makes this beautiful country what it is....and....and....for you."

"(sobbing) Oh baby!! This could be our last night together!! Let's make it all that it can be!!!"

WxJeff · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:08 am Post subject:

Now that's funny right there. I don't care where you're from.
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BGRtrumpet · Regular Member Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 54

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

I'd rather take the advice of a University Professor with an upper graduate degree and who has been training others for 20+ years than I would over someone who claims to be an expert from reading sports articles.

I would imagine that damaged brain cells caused by a lack of Oxygen would take longer to recover than muscles cells although I could be wrong. At any rate, I gave you the information, and you are welcome to do with it what you like.

For those of you who are playing hard and long and feel that you are reaching the gates of nirvana like King David with his music, just remember what I said that you are ready to pass out and also remember that King David played strings.

_TrumpeT_ · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 1426

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

_TrumpeT_ · Heavyweight Member Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 1426

swthiel · Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:38 am Post subject:

Majestic1,

You've suggested, on what sounds like a theoretical basis, that trumpet playing is a health risk. Can you point us to any peer-reviewed studies to support this claim? Specifically:

1) Is the mean life expectancy of trumpet players lower than that of non-trumpet players?

2) Are trumpet players more prone to death due to cardiovascular events than non-trumpet players?

3) Are trumpet players more prone to non-fatal cardiovascular events than non-trumpet players?
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Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

Steve,

Who is getting theoretical? Not me. It can be proven that trumpet playing creates VM. Can you prove that it doesn’t?

Majestic1 · Regular Member Joined: 15 Dec 2007 Posts: 18

Here is a statistic for you Steve. In my family there are no genetic diseases. Everyone is very healthy and those 90 year olds are still hiking and climbing mountains with plans to climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

I am the only trumpet player in the family and the only one with a heart murmur.