Musculoskeletal pain & dysfunction in musicians

In the Netherlands more than 2 million people are actively making music. Unfortunately, thousands of these musicians experience pain in their muscles and/or tendons that limits them in practicing their hobby or profession. For professional musicians, these complaints can lead to temporary incapacity for work or even early termination of their career. It is not clear exactly what causes these complaints. The PhD thesis of rehabilitation physician Kees Hein Woldendorp focused on this type of complaints among musicians. Since professional musicians are engaged in intensive and long-term physical activities, it is obvious that physical factors play an important role in the development of complaints. Many health care providers assume that highly tensed muscles, insufficient relaxation, poor posture and/or little variation in workload leads to pain complaints. The first goal of the PhD project was therefore to examine these assumptions. The results did not confirm the assumptions. To enable further research, it is important to measure posture and motor function accurately. This is only possible to a limited extent for musicians, because not enough measuring instruments are available or applicable. This is why the second part of the thesis discusses research to gain more knowledge about practical and usable measuring instruments. The studies focused on the measurement of embouchure in wind instruments (how the flow of air through the mouth ensures the right sound), hand characteristics and posture. The insights and results from this PhD research will be used for further research and improving the rehabilitation of musicians with musculoskeletal complaints