What is Musician's Focal Dystonia?
Dystonia is both the symptom and the name of the disease.
The symptom manifests as a permanent involuntary contraction of the muscles of one or more parts of the body.
Focal Dystonia is a type of dystonia that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body.
Musician’s Focal Dystonia (MFD) is a special group among Task-Specific Focal Dystonia as a consequence of a repetitive motor activity closely related to the professional activity performed by musicians.
It appears gradually and progressively.
Musicians are especially vulnerable to this type of dystonia triggered by specific activities, which is manifested by the appearance of pain less involuntary muscular contraction, and loss of motor control in highly trained movements during musical performance.
In most cases, as soon as they stop playing the instrument, the muscles relax.
The causes of Musician’s Focal Dystonia are still not fully understood, and the diagnosis, in itself, is controversial. However, thanks to the contribution of neurophysiological studies and functional neuroimaging techniques, there is a growing evidence of alterations in the processing of sensory information, sensory-motor integration, cortical and subcortical inhibition processes, as well as the influence of sensory stimulation on cortical excitability associated to this pathology.
Symptoms in right-handed guitarists
Right hand
- The finger that shows the symptoms returns very slow after plucking the string.
- The affected finger curves into the palm of the hand involuntarily.
- Usually, when the finger affected by the symptoms plucks the string, one of the adjacent fingers extends outward. This should be considered as a compensation of the adjacent finger in opposition to the finger with the symptoms.
When the dystonic symptoms occur in the index finger, for instance, the middle finger extends outward involuntarily.
When the symptom appears on the ring finger, middle or index finger extend outward involuntarily. - Weakeness feeling in the affected finger.
- Tremors and contraction in the muscles of the hand when it gets close to the strings.
Left hand
- The symptoms are the same as those in the right hand, with the peculiarity that the dystonic finger, in addition to curling into the palm of the hand, can also join involuntary one of the adjacent fingers.
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With the correct guidance, recovery from MFD (Musician’s Focal Dystonia) is possible.
First of all, I considere important to emphasize that 90% of the work for recovery from MFD must be yours. The other 10% is completed by the guidance, the tips and exercises that you will find in this site and that constitute the foundations for you to develop the ability to become your own MASTER in this absolutely personal process.
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My name is Walter Silva, I'm a classical guitarist
Recovery from Musician’s Focal Dystonia is possible
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