Quick Facts about Musicians’ Dystonias
- Professional musicians are susceptible to a variety of specific occupational injuries, including task-specific focal dystonia.
- Hand dystonia and embouchure dystonia (which affects the mouth, cheeks, jaw, and tongue) are the types of dystonia most often diagnosed in musicians.
- Playing the instrument triggers the muscle spasms. The spasms are not usually present at rest.
- Musicians may perceive the early symptoms of dystonia as the result of faulty technique or lack of sufficient preparation.
- Treatments vary depending on the part of the body that is affected, but usually include altering the way the instrument is played. Medications and/or botulinum toxin injections may also be appropriate.
- By definition, musician’s dystonia is almost always focal and does not spread to affect additional parts of the body.
- Musicians With Dystonia (MWD) is a program of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation implemented to acknowledge the unique challenges facing affected musicians.
- There is an online bulletin board specifically for musicians with dystonia: www.dystonia-bb.org/forums/mwd/
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