How Chronic Pain affects your Voice

No matter where the pain is localized, and whether the pain is physical or emotional (are they two different things?), eventually we will react to that pain by hyper-tonicizing our upper rectus abdominis (six-pack) muscle: We hurt, so we squeeze - over time, this makes the pain worse. The superficial front and back fascia then recruit other muscles to “protect” our body from the pain, including (but not limited to) pecs, traps, scm, masseter and lats. So more muscles get overused, which leads to more pain. Moving then hurts, so we move less, which also creates more pain. The gripping causes breath-holding and a cutting off of deep core usage, which, you guessed it, increases pain. 😢

We are then into what I call the Chronic Pain Cycle: the more we hurt, the more we grip and hold, and the more we grip and hold, the worse the pain becomes.

So not only will a singer’s flow, support and vocal mechanism be physically compromised, but it can also be much harder to drop into text and character (not to mention the joy and freedom of performing) when the mind is distracted by pain.
Some consistent therapeutic measures will be helpful. Restorative yoga, breathwork, meditation, deep tissue massage and physiotherapy all have their place. Softening the upper six-pack is key to breaking the VPC. .
The good news is, studies show that singing is one of the greatest tools for immune system strength and for some pain management. .

So keep singing, everyone. 🎶🎶🎶😊