YES! playing the saxophone can absolutely hurt or exacerbate ES symptoms. You put a lot of pressure in your neck when playing that sort of wind instrument thus further irritating nerves/vascular tissues perhaps already in distress from ES.
Hopefully Musicgeek will pitch in. She is a saxophonist & vocalist & had quite the trial w/ ES vs. her musical career. You could search for her past posts by clicking on the magnifying glass above & typing her screen name in the search box. She has written some very detailed posts about her experience.
I flubbed up. Try putting in MusicGeek (capital G). The search feature can be touchy & I think requires proper format for user name. If that doesnât work, please let me know.
Another option is to click on the butterfly icon at the top right. When you do, your name will come up w/ some gray icons at the right. Click on the envelope & a blue message box will come up. Click on the blue box & youâll get a window to type a private message to MusicGeek.