By understanding how Lip Renew works and by using it correctly, we feel that lack of endurance, swelling, and stiffness will be a thing of the past. Here's why.
Robinson's Remedies approach to a healthy embouchure is to understand the scientific reasons behind stiffness, soreness, and swelling. We research and develop our formulas with chemists and test them with professionals in real-world situations before introducing them to the public.
Since playing an instrument is a physical activity, it stands to reason that musicians suffer the same physical issues as many athletes. Therefore, the best way to understand how to improve ENDURANCE for wind musicians is to study the physiological causes of muscle failure in endurance athletes.
Elite athletes suffer from endurance problems because they utilize specific muscle groups to excess. Essentially, they exercise them to the point that the muscle can no longer expand and contract, ultimately causing muscle failure. The same is true for wind musicians. In this diagram, we see that there are two muscles that wind musicians utilize extensively.
They are the Orbicularis Oris which surrounds the lips, and the Buccinator which connects to it. Under strenuous playing conditions, wind musicians exercise these muscles to the point where they ultimately fail, indicated by the swelling of the lips and, in some cases, the loss of feeling in the muscle. Swelling signifies that the muscles are repairing themselves. When there is too much swelling, however, the muscle can become injured.
Let's examine the basic physiology here. All muscles require glucose and oxygen to create energy. The byproduct of this fuel is lactic acid. Under normal conditions, our bodies can metabolize lactic acid because the muscle does not overproduce it. However, when on a strenuous gig, we utilize Orbicularis Oris and the Buccinator excessively and cannot metabolize the lactic acid produced.
This excessive production of lactic acid effectively crowds out the glucose and oxygen in the muscle. Without glucose and oxygen, the muscle fails and leads to stiffness, soreness, and swelling. The key to improving endurance is to keep lactic acid out of the muscle, thus ensuring a regular supply of fresh oxygenated blood going to it. Therefore, we need to eliminate the lactic acid!
We created Lip Renew Endurance Cream for wind musicians to manage lactic acid buildup in the embouchure muscles during a playing situation. We don't use wax or grease in our formula. Instead, we use glycerin and aloe vera, ensuring that our ingredients will absorb almost instantly into the muscle. We use ingredients like magnesium to keep lactic acid out of the muscle. We open up the blood vessels with vasodilators such as rosemary and lavender oils. And we use four natural anti-inflammatory agents, including arnica, to provide rapid relief of swelling in the lip tissue. There is simply nothing else like Lip Renew!
While we are all used to applying lip cream only to the lips, it is essential that you apply Lip Renew to the skin around the lips, your entire embouchure. The most effective way to do this is to briefly massage it into the skin, making sure that you work it into the Orbicularis Oris and the Buccinator muscles.
Because Lip Renew contains no wax that would impede the absorption of key ingredients or leave a greasy residue, you can use Lip Renew while you play without wiping it off.
Lip Renew is the only lip cream specifically designed for wind musicians that will improve endurance, alleviate stiffness, soreness, and swelling. Don't compromise by using commercial products that don't address the problems wind musicians face every day. Lip Renew is exactly what your chops need to perform at their best.
What about RECOVERY? In situations where recovery is not a time sensitive issue, most endurance athletes (and wind musicians) will use ice or cold to reduce swelling and allow the body's natural processes to work. This rather technical process involves specialized cells that grroup together to create new muscle fibers. Amino acids are an important component of this process. Lip Renew products have ingredients that contain amino acids to assist in the recovery process. Lip Renew Recovery contains most of the ingredients in our Lip Renew cream. Importantly, we add moisturizers and DO NOT USE WAX. The moisturizers slow down the absorption process so Recovery works over several hours to keep lactic acid out of the muscles, infuse oxygenated blood (with amino acids) into the muscle and reduce swelling.
While it's commonly known that ice or cold treatments aid in reducing swelling and facilitating the body's natural recovery processes when recovery time is not an issue, the underlying mechanisms can be quite technical. For instance, specialized cells work together to generate new muscle fibers, with amino acids playing a vital role in this regeneration process.
In light of this, Lip Renew Recovery offers a comprehensive solution. Lip Renew Recovery builds on the essential ingredients of Lip Renew cream along with moisturizers, deliberately excluding wax. These moisturizers not only enhance absorption but also extend the recovery process over several hours. By doing so, Lip Renew Recovery effectively keeps lactic acid at bay, promotes the infusion of oxygenated blood rich in amino acids into the muscles, and reduces swelling. This includes healing micro cuts on the surface of the lips and keeps them moist.
Lip Renew Recovery ensures sustained relief and support for a wind musicians' embouchure, making it the choice of professionals around the world!