Focal Dystonia Treatment
A path to recovery
Based on my own experience, I want to share the most important conclusions I’ve reached after recovering from the symptoms of Focal Dystonia that I suffered in the index and ring fingers of my right hand.
It has been a path of personal exploration, research, intuition and common sense, mistakes and successes, introspection, curiosity… but above all, a great deal of determination, humility, and patience.The most important thing is to understand that the symptom is not caused by any physiological pathology, but is limited to the brain and is due to a functional alteration of the central nervous system.
Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais was a scientist who, in the 1950s, developed a method, through conscious movement and directed attention, to improve the quality of movement, posture, flexibility, coordination, and relationship with the environment.
He was also a pioneer of neuroplasticity, when it was not yet widely discussed.
His books were a great source of inspiration for me.
His concept of “self-image” refers to the mental, somatic, and experiential image a person has of themselves and is related to the Penfield homunculus, that peculiar topographical map of the body reflected in the motor and sensory cortex, drawn by neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield.
In the context of the Feldenkrais Method, self-image is shaped and enriched through the conscious exploration of movement to develop greater self-awareness. In this way, it is possible to improve the body awareness and expand the repertoire of possible actions, leading to greater freedom, effectiveness, and well-being.
“Our self-image consists of four components that are involved in every action: movement, sensation, feeling and thought.”
M. Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement
From the interaction of these four components alluded by Feldenkrais, it is easy to deduce that fear or other emotions, when related to a specific action such as playing a musical instrument, will have some kind of effect on movement.
However, taking into account the proven plasticity of our brain, it is possible to gradually reduce the symptoms of musician’s focal dystonia until they disappear completely if we work from a holistic approach that enhances proprioception and conscious movement, as well as identifying and releasing those emotional and thought patterns so strongly linked to the symptoms that they trigger them automatically.
It is necessary to create new neuromuscular patterns that allow us to move again in an ergonomic and effective way.
Recovering fine motor control involves, first and foremost, recovering the adequate sensations.
We understand as adequate sensations those that allow us to create a balanced muscle tone to maintain the shape our hand or lips should adopt when playing our instrument.
The next step is to create conscious movement. This means learning to move efficiently and effortlessly.
As you can see, so far I’ve focused only on two of the four components of the Feldenkrais text box: sensation and movement. However, there are two other extremely important factors to consider for truly effective focal dystonia treatment.
These two components are thought and feeling.
A noisy mind is that one that unconsciously and constantly accompanies us with a disorganized stream of thoughts.
Some of the toxic thoughts that occupy our mind involve obsessive perfectionism, excessive self-demand, obsession with winning (competitive personality), a need to prove something to ourselves or impress others.
These toxic thoughts can trigger negative feelings.
For example, perfectionism can lead to feelings of frustration and guilt if we don’t achieve the expected result within a certain timeframe, despite our efforts.
Excessive self-demand can cause stress.
Being extremely competitive can lead us to envy the achievements of other colleagues and feeling anger and frustration.
The need to impress others inevitably puts us in a state of nervousness, which leads to frustration if we feel we haven’t met our goal. The constant need to prove something to ourselves and set the bar too high can easily lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair.
If we ignore the impact these thoughts and feelings have on our nervous system and, consequently, on our motor processes, we are overlooking a decisive factor in the modulation of focal dystonia symptoms.
If I pointed out the four elements of the text box below and asked you how you perceive yourself, what would you say?
- BODY
- MIND
- EMOTIONAL STATE
- RELATIONSHIP PATTERNS
Do you perceive each of these parts as independent or interdependent parts, that is, as parts that are related to each other?
Although most people tend to answer: Yes, of course they are related parts!, I still observe daily how the vast majority of people who suffer from focal dystonia observe and attempt to treat this condition as an isolated and independent symptom.
This is due to a lack of a holistic conception of the human being.
When we truly take a holistic perspective, health and illness are a state we experience, not something our physical body expresses.
For this reason, most people trying to recover from focal dystonia find themselves trapped in observing the symptom, which is merely the physical representation of the condition and not the condition itself. But if we look at focal dystonia from a holistic perspective, it becomes the sum of:
- The representation of the physical sensations we experience during the symptoms.
- The emotional state we experience during the symptoms.
- The toxic thoughts that accompany us when we perform the task that triggers the symptoms.
- The patterns of relationship with our instrument, with other musicians, and with the audience, all of which have a significant emotional impact on triggering the symptoms.
So, would you still believe that focal dystonia is exclusively a physical, neurological, emotional, or perhaps psychological problem?
Or perhaps it is worth embarking on a journey of SELF-AWARENESS and INTENTIONAL INTEGRATION, which will help us connect all these parts with each other and heal them from a holistic perspective.
Well, this is precisely what my recovery program is based on, and why it is called CONSCIOUS EMOTIONAL-MOTOR INTEGRATION.
It is a path that will open the doors to a new experience while you play; from the physical to the sensory-motor, emotional, and the way you relate to your instrument and your audience.
