Juan Aguirre

adrià

Guitarist.

I'd like to share with all the musicians a personal experience that I hope will be useful.

Between the years 2002 and 2003, I had the great fortune to find myself immersed in a big tour that led me to play all over the country as well as in America. It was something I had dreamed about since I was a child. Play live, travel and make a living out of music.

I faced, for the first time, an injury on the left hand. You can image the anguish with which I lived that situation. It was an inflammation inside the index finger that made painful the most simple of the chords. I didn't understand what was happening to me and was terrified by the idea of not recovering. I looked at my twelve-string guitar and at the amplifiers, and felt that I wanted to play them more than anything else.

Through a friend, I met the team of the Institute. They made me understand that it was something much more common than I thought. I started a slow but progressive recovery and care. Eventually, that came to an end. I went back to playing, little by little, and even took the opportunity to improve some technical issues.

Several things remained from that bitter experience: the friendship of Doctor Rosset and a feeling of gratitude towards everyone at the Institute. And there's a lesson that I want to share with all of you, regardless of the instrument and the kind of music you play:

We, the musicians, are vulnerable. Our hands, arms, shoulders and other joints need care to respond to what our mind wants to play.

In our fingers, there are a lot of small muscles that work similarly to those of any athlete and, even though I'm not as experienced as to give advice to anyone, I would like to convey how important it is to be aware of this.

I write these lines because I would not like any fellow musician to have such a bad time as I had during those five long months.

A hug to everyone.