Treating the aches and pains of playing music

"My fingers are tripping over each other, and it's already giving me a lot of pain" - that's how Robert Schumann once described his condition. Today, we know the composer was suffering from musician's cramp, formally called focal dystonia. A fellow sufferer was American pianist Leon Fleischer, who could no longer use his right hand for 30 years starting in the 1960s.

Other well-known examples of musicians' ailments include pianist Murray Perahia's thumb inflammation and tenor Rolando Villazon's voice loss. The physical strain musicians face can be compared to that of competitive athletes.

But while sports medicine is a well-established field, a comparable medical arena for musicians is just now coming into being. Some German music academies now come outfitted with clinics for musicians, but they often house just a single doctor.

The Duisburg Philharmonic's basoon quartet in for an examination in Dsseldorf

An exception comes by way of a Dsseldorf musicians' clinic, created two years ago by the music journalist, organist and physician Wolfram Goertz. Joined to the local university clinic, Goertz's institution is part of a network including neurologists, orthopedists, hand surgeons, psychologists and physiotherapists. It can be a source of rescue for suffering musicians from Germany and all around Europe - many of whom often have years of trouble in other doctors' offices behind them.

Instruments in the waiting room

"The usual case is, indeed, that a patient who comes to us has already been to at least two or three specialists without being able to find the cause for what's ailing him," said Wolfram Goertz. "After all, the doctors have never examined their patients holding their musical instruments."

That's why performers seeking help in Dsseldorf are asked to bring their instruments along to the university clinic, where the doctors themselves have musical experience and are familiar with the physical movements that go into playing a given instrument.

Medical doctor and musician: Wolfram Goertz

"Musicians often have to take on an 'abnormal' position in order to play. This can cause chronic pain over time," Goertz said.

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Treating the aches and pains of playing music