Dharawan Noller, a QUT industrial design graduate, designed the “fluteclip+shirt” device during her studies to warn flute players when they were holding a risky posture at the most formative and habit-forming stage of their career – when they were beginner musicians.

Dharawan, who played the flute during primary and high school, said the unobtrusive flute clip cliped onto the flute close to the mouth piece, and contained sensors which, in tandem with a second concealed device in a t-shirt, monitored and gave feedback on the player’s posture and instrument’s position.

“I interviewed musicians and people in the medical field and found every instrument has a risk of injury,” Dharawan said.

“Woodwind players have a high risk of injury and flute players hold their body in a unilateral position, which is ergonomically poor, since they hold the instrument above their shoulders.

“Musicians usually hold a static position as they play and complete repetitive actions for long periods of time, which can push muscles, ligaments and tendons beyond their physical limit.

“This is exacerbated by a lack of knowledge of managing their bodies and potential injuries, but these injuries are preventable.”

Dharawan said the best time to teach musicians about preventing injuries was when they were first learning their instruments, usually in primary school.

“Primary school-aged students are an ideal target group for teaching about optimal posture and position to prevent injury,” she said.

“My device could help them develop the right habits as they play.”

Dharawan said the flute clip had a sensor that detected when the instrument was being played and three coloured lights. A green light indicated an  optimal posture and instrument position, a red light indicated a  risky position held for 30 seconds or longer, and a blue light reminded players to rest after a pre-programmed length of time, recommended to be every 10 minutes.

“When musicians are practicing in a band, they usually have breaks in the music where they do not need to play and can regularly rest their body,” she said.

“But when they are practising alone, they may play for long periods of time without a break.

“It is important while practising to take regular breaks and put the flute down and give the body a shake to relieve tension in the muscles.”

Dharawan said the next stage for her fluteclip+shirt would be to build a working prototype and test it in context with beginner flute players.

Course leaflet:  http://www.bapam.org.uk/documents/MScLeafletFeb2012.pdf 

Course Information and application: www.ucl.ac.uk/performingartsmedicine

 We are pleased to advise that The Hon Simon Crean MP, Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government and

Minister for the Arts, will officially open the 3^rd annual international arts and health conference ‘The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing’ on Monday 14 November 2011 at 6.30pm.

 The conference is being held at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, in association with the National Portrait Gallery, from Monday 14 November to Thursday 17 November 2011.

 For details about keynote speakers and presenters and to register for the conference, please log on to www.artsandhealth.org

 Please note the early bird registration deadline is 7 October 2011 and numbers are strictly restricted so book now to ensure a place.

 We hope you will join us for what will be an exciting and stimulating conference, with speakers from across Australia

and internationally from the UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong.

 Best wishes from the Arts and Health Australia conference team

 Margret Meagher

Arts and Health Australia and The Australian Centre for Creative Ageing

Regional Office: Suite 2, The Macquarie Garrison Building,

26 Clarence Street, Port Macquarie NSW 2444 Australia

Postal Address: PO Box 243 Kings Cross NSW 1340 Australia

Tel:  02 6583 5040    Fax:  02 6584 0024    Mobile:  0416 641 482

Email:    margret@artsandhealth.org    Web:     www.artsandhealth.org

 2011 Distinguished Fellow, Society for the Arts in Healthcare

 3rd Annual Art of Good Health and Wellbeing

International Arts and Health Conference

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

14 to 17 November 2011

 Join us on twitter @ArtsHealthOz and #ArtsHealthOz

 Walton’s Crown Imperial
 Brahms’ Piano Concerto 1
 Elgar’s Enigma Variations

 Conductor: Warwick Stengards
 Soloist: Ben Martin

 The concert is in aid of two charities:
 “Youth Off the Streets” and
 “Children’s Hospital Institute of Sports Medicine”.

 The Sydney Town Hall is large.  We need 2000 “close friends” to fill the
 hall to make it a vibrant and festive celebration of music.

 Tickets are now available via the ADO website: www.ado.net.au
 Cost: $35, $25 concession and $15 student.

 Thank you for your support of the ADO in 2011.  Our ambition is to fill
 the Sydney Town Hall.  A great afternoon in music is assured.

 See SEMPRE’s homepage: http://www.sempre.org.uk/

See the conference site: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/events/event-details.asp?eventId=2773

Anyone interested in performing, please contact: Dr Cathy Fraser (chair): catfra@optusnet.com.au

proudly presents

DOC ART FESTIVAL 2011

Sun 3 July, 12 noon, AMA House, 69 Christie Street, St Leonards, Sydney 

In a challenge for doctors to creatively interpret this year’s festival theme ‘laughter is the best medicine’, Doc Art Festival 2011 received entries from around Australia proving that doctors have a great sense of humour.

Just in case you ever doubted it!

So come along to DOC ART FESTIVAL 2011 and meet the doctor-finalists in visual arts, photography, performing arts, writing and film. See how they’ve amusingly interpreted the laughter theme.

In each category, they will be vying for 2 awards: Judge’s Award and People’s Choice Award.

All welcome. Admission (pay at door): $25 Non-members / $10 AMA Members & Finalists

RSVP (for catering), please email: janene@amansw.com.au

We look forward to your company on Sun 3 July – starting at 12 noon.

If haven’t been to one of our meetings before, then you must come to this one.

It is our highlight event for the year.

The Conference will be on Friday 26^th and Saturday 27^th August 2011, and will be one stream of the World Congress, which will be held at the beautiful Darling Harbour in Sydney from Wednesday, August 24^th to Sunday, 28^th.

You are able to come for the whole Congress, or just the days of the ACPM Conference. And it will be possible to attend the other events at the Congress as well as the ones on offer by ACPM.

The structure of the Conference will include international plenary speakers in the morning, followed by our own stream of speakers in the afternoon. There will be a Conference Dinner on Saturday night.

It will be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear speakers from all around the world, such as Dr Brian Broom, an immunologist with expertise in psychosomatic medicine; Harlene Anderson, who specialises in family therapy; Jennifer Freyd and her work in complex PTSD; and Colin Ross who deals with traumatic psychosis. And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

For more information please visit the ACPM Website: www.acpm.org.au, or contact our Administrative Officer, Carole Duckworth: admin@acpm.org.au