[Clinical analysis of musicians' focal hand dystonia. Review of 86 cases]

Abstract

Introduction: Focal hand dystonia in musicians due to its rareness and specificity. It has been insufficiently described thus remaining a largely unknown condition.

Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of musician's focal dystonia.

Methods and results: We analyzed 658 musicians' cases seen during the past 4 years in a medical center for performing artists. Of the musicians treated, 86 (13 %) suffered from focal dystonia, 42 % were guitarists, 21% pianists and 6% violinists. Men were more affected than women (7:1). Sufferers reported longer practice times (4.8 hours per day) and were older (33.6 years). In comparison, other pathologies were seen when musicians were younger (26.5 years) and played no more than 3.5 hours per day.

Conclusions: Focal dystonia in musicians appear to be the consequence of a long history of intense and repetitive manual work while playing music added to other factors, as for example, gender.