Preventing Musician’s Focal Dystonia: A guide for music educators

Abstract

Musician’s Focal Dystonia is a task-specific neurological movement disorder affecting the fine motor control of 1% to 2% of highly skilled musicians, often disrupting or even terminating professional musical careers. Given that recovery from the condition is time-consuming and not at all guaranteed, prevention is of high importance. The disorder develops as a result of a period of maladaptive learning, prompted and aggravated by a complex set of risk factors. While some of these, such as genetic predisposition, are immutable, others, such as practice organisation and strategies, general performance-related health and psychosocial factors within the learning environment, are malleable and can be positively influenced in educational settings. This implies that music educators can play a significant role in protecting future generations from acquiring Musician’s Focal Dystonia. Therefore, this article aims to provide music educators with clear information about the pathophysiology of the condition, the potential risk factors, and guidelines for practical preventative steps which can be implemented in individual and group instrumental teaching. We hope that this work is the start of collaborative work between clinicians, health professionals, music educators and the musicians themselves to work towards the common goal of reducing the cases of this disorder.