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Impact of Changes in Playing Time on Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Pain in String Music Students

 Musician's Journal Club is a social media based discussion of scientific literature that impacts musician health, especially musculoskeletal health. Each week, we dissect an article and explore how it can make a difference in practice and performance. This week's article is a 2018 Medical Problems of Performing Artists article entitled Impact of Changes in Playing Time on Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Pain in String Music Students. This article moves beyond the established correlation between longer playing time and increased pain to specifically examine periods of increased playing time, such as an intensive music summer program. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) There is an established correlation between playing time and playing-related pain, which is similar to overuse injuries seen in a variety of other occupations. In short, the more time spent doing a taxing and repetitive motion, the hig...
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Barriers and Facilitators for Implementing an Exercise-Based Injury Prevention Program for String Players

 Welcome to another week of Musician's Journal Club, a social media community exploring research articles that impact musician's musculoskeletal health. Our article this week was a 2019 article from the journal Work entitled Barriers and facilitators for implementing an exercise-based injury prevention program for string players. Previous articles have focused on the high prevalence of playing-related injuries, so I wanted to take this week to explore some potential prevention options. I especially appreciate this exercise-based intervention because it requires minimal equipment so is more accessible for individual musicians to try on their own. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) We've looked at several articles detailing the high prevalence of overuse injuries and playing-related pain in musicians, and there is research showing that exercise may be effective in preventing these overuse injuries...
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Patterns of Pain Location in Music Students: A Cluster Analysis

 Welcome back to Musician's Journal Club, where each week we explore a piece of scientific literature relating to musician health. This week's article was a very recent article from February 2021 in the journal BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders entitled Patterns of pain location in music students: a cluster analysis . Many studies have investigated prevalence of playing-related pain in musicians, but this study attempts to identify what injury patterns exist in music students to identify the most common pain locations and combinations of symptoms. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) Playing-related pain has been shown to be highly prevalent in both student and professional musicians, with the lifetime prevalence of musculoskeletal pain being estimated between 41% and 93% in professional musicians. In music students, the point prevalence is estimated to be 63% and the 1-year prevalence is estimated bet...
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Prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss in student musicians

 This week's article for Musician's Journal Club was a 2010 Journal from the International Journal of Audiology entitled " Prevalence of noise-induced hearing loss in student musicians ". Musicians are often in high noise-exposure environments in rehearsals, practice rooms, and concert halls, and this study specifically examined the hearing health of music students and analyzed prevalence and correlated factors such as practice time and instrument. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is defined by a drop, or notch, in hearing sensitivity at an intensity between 3000 and 6000 Hz, meaning that there is a pitch or set of pitches in this range that are not as audible to the individual. For reference, 3000 to 6000 Hz is roughly F#7 to F#8. NIHL is caused, among other factors, by high-intensity sound exposure, defined by OSHA as 8 hours at 85 dBA with a decrease ...
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How guilt/shame proneness and coping style are related to music performance anxiety and stress symptoms by gender

This week's article for Musician's Journal Club was a 2018 article from Psychology of Music entitled " How guilt/shame proneness and coping style are related to music performance anxiety and stress symptoms by gender ".  Performance anxiety is a complex and prevalent issue in musicians, and this article dove in to some of the predictors for performance anxiety. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) Music performance anxiety symptoms include muscle tension, sweaty hands, hyperventilation, dry mouth, shakiness, increased heard rate, arm and neck stiffness, difficulty maintaining posture, and difficulty concentrating. There are many performance anxiety management strategies, and both long-term and short-term techniques were found to be useful in effective management. Some strategies include deep breathing, yoga, meditation, exercise, having strong social support, and in some cases, use of medica...
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Overuse Syndrome of the Hand and Wrist in Musicians: A Systematic Review

 This week's article for Musician's Journal Club was a 2020 article from the Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume) entitled " Overuse syndrome of the hand and wrist in musicians: a systematic review ".  I chose this article because hand and wrist pain is an issue that affects many different instrumentalists, and one I have personal experience with. I thought this review article gave a nice balanced view of defining overuse syndrome and symptoms and discussing treatment and prevention strategies. The lifetime prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in musicians has been reported as 77%, 67%, and 89% Musculoskeletal pain in musicians is clearly an issue. Even by the lowest number reported in this article, about two out of three musicians experience pain during their career. Overuse syndrome is one of the common diagnoses for musician pain, and some of the most common areas affected by overuse syndrome are the wrist, forearm, fingers, and right hand, especially in wind pl...
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