Question:
HI. I am a competitive flute player, and there is something called double tounging that you use to quicken your speed. I haven't noticed it until now, but my tongue felt burnt or something like that, so I look under my tongue with a mirror, and it looks like tiny broken blood vessels. What could have caused this, and is there anything I can do about it?

Answer:
Hey Rebekah, how are you doing?

Confine to the practice of alternating attacks to one short period per day until such time when it may be extended without harm. Strain may at times cause considerable discomfort and may even lead to more serious complications in the throat if practice is consistently overlong.

The tounge, like the eyes, will frequently leave clue to disorders elsewhere. Very often it is a barometer of the state of health of the body.

Normally the tounge is pink, moist, and clean. A slightly fissured or slightly furred tounge is usually of no significance.

Some people have a coated tounge all their live, while with others, a coated tounge may be an indication of some serious disease. A colored tounge may be due to medication or food.

Pain can be due to drinking hot beverages, or taking hot spices (often unremembered), or can result from excessive smoking, perforation from a fish bone, or the like. The practice of keeping an aspirin over a painful tooth can result in a burnlike effect on the mucosa and tounge.

REFERENCES
Frederick Moritz ,: The art of double tonguing on reed instruments.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Alfred I. Winkler, D.D.S., M.D.,: Symptoms of the Tounge
Funk & Wagnalls Family Medical Guide; p98

Best wishes,
The Prison Hospital

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Doctor: I am, bit by bit.