Musical medicine for performers

Musicians could be at risk of injury

By Vivien Schweitzer

Playing a musical instrument may not appear to be a dangerous activity, but musicians suffer from injuries ranging from torn lips to finger paralysis - and treatment is often limited.

However, the first course in the UK designed to train music medicine specialists aims to spread awareness about performers' problems among the medical profession.

The course is the brainchild of Carola Grindea, former professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She also chairs ISSTIP - the International Society of Tension in Performance, which she founded in 1961 to deal with the debilitating effects of anxiety and tension experienced by performers.

Any movement involving the thumb was impossible; it was a sort of paralysis

Paul Lanfear, pianist

It is recognised that mental stress from performing or intense practicing results in physical stress, as the body does strange things to cope with anxiety.

At the Performing Arts Clinic run by Grindea each term at the London College of Music and Media (LCMM), seminars such as Yoga for Musicians, and Liberating the Body and Mind teach performers how to avoid physical and physiological problems.

The new course, which begins in October, has been approved by the British Performing Arts Medicine Trust (BPAMT), with whom it will be run as a collaborative effort.

It will include seminars from the current clinic; a medical faculty staffed by neurologist Dr. Wynn Parry, hand surgeon Ian Winspur, and respected psychologists, podiatrists and physical therapists; and yoga, pilates and Alexander Technique instructors.

GPs 'in the dark'

Suffering musicians think the course is long overdue. Pianist Paul Lanfear, who lives in Bristol, was forced to abandon study at the Birmingham Conservatoire due to focal dystonia (muscle cramp in the fingers) which prevented him from performing even a simple scale.

He said: "Any movement involving the thumb was impossible; it was a sort of paralysis."

Lanfear visited his GP and was sent for an x-ray, which revealed nothing.

Musicians can suffer everything from swollen lips to finger paralysis

"I was told that there was nothing wrong with me.

"If GPs felt they could help, they would be more sympathetic, but if the problem is something they are in the dark about, they are reluctant to admit it."

Lanfear then sought help from osteopaths and physical therapists, to no avail - until he began working with Grindea - who diagnosed focal dystonia.

Pain and swelling

Ian Muirhead, a trumpeter with the Scottish Opera Orchestra who also teaches at the Royal Scottish Academy in Glasgow, was forced to take time off after playing became increasingly difficult.

Eventually, suffering from facial pain and a swollen lip, he could not play a single note.

Muirhead paid for private care, and was misdiagnosed with everything from dental problems to nerve damage, until he eventually went to a surgeon in Toronto who diagnosed and operated on a torn muscle in his mouth.

Muirhead is now able to play again, although he has had to adjust his technique.

He believes that in terms of helping injured musicians, the UK lags behind countries such as the Netherlands, which has a state-funded medical system to look after performers' health.

Many musicians who suffer from emotional and physical problems are reluctant to speak out for fear of jeopardizing their careers, while others do not receive adequate treatment.

Famous pianists such as Gary Graffman, Leon Fleischer and Glenn Gould all faced debilitating injuries; Gould, for example, suffered stage fright and a series of muscular complaints.

Eileen Quilter Williams, general administrator of the trust, hopes the course will eventually be expanded and taken up by medical schools - establishing arts medicine alongside sports medicine.

If all goes to plan, future generations of music students will benefit from greater awareness of the intense mental and physical stress they face.