Self-Report Fatigue Management for Instrumental Musicians: A Delphi Survey.

Background: Mismanagement of fatigue and playing load have been consistently identified as risk factors for playing-related pain and injuries. Studies in sport demonstrate that fatigue management strategies can predict and prevent overuse syndromes and related injuries through consistent assessment of playing load and physical/psychological stress. Self-report strategies show particular responsiveness to both the short and long-term impacts of training.

On the One Hand or on the Other: Trade-Off in Timing Precision in Bimanual Musical Scale Playing.

Music performance requires simultaneously producing challenging movement sequences with the left and right hand. A key question in bimanual motor control research is whether bimanual movements are produced by combining unimanual controllers or through a dedicated bimanual controller. Here, 34 expert pianists performed musical scale playing movements with the left or right hand alone and with both hands simultaneously.

Elevated Forearm Coactivation Levels and Higher Temporal Variability in String Players with Musicians' Dystonia During Demanding Playing Conditions.

Aims: There is a lack of an objective measurement tool for evaluating the quality of bowing performance in string players. The present study aimed to assess kinematic features of bow strokes performed by violinists and violists affected by bow arm dystonia, compared to healthy controls.

Methods: Seven musicians with musician's dystonia and 20 healthy controls participated in the study.

Potential benefits of music playing in stroke upper limb motor rehabilitation.

Music-based interventions have emerged as a promising tool in stroke motor rehabilitation as they integrate most of the principles of motor training and multimodal stimulation. This paper aims to review the use of music in the rehabilitation of upper extremity motor function after stroke. First, we review the evidence supporting current music-based interventions including Music-supported Therapy, Music glove, group music therapy, Rhythm- and music-based intervention, and Musical sonification.

Musical Sonification of Arm Movements in Stroke Rehabilitation Yields Limited Benefits.

Neurologic music therapy in rehabilitation of stroke patients has been shown to be a promising supplement to the often strenuous conventional rehabilitation strategies. The aim of this study was threefold: (i) replicate results from a previous study with a sample from one clinic (henceforth called Site 1; = 12) using an already established recording system, and (ii) conceptually replicate previous findings with a less costly hand-tracking system in Site 2 ( = 30), and (iii) compare both sub-studies' outcomes to estimate the efficiency of neurologic music therapy. Stroke patients in both sites were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups and received daily training of guided sequential upper limb movements additional to their standard stroke rehabilitation protocol.

Mapping of finger fascicles within the flexor digitorum superficialis and profundus muscles.

Introduction: In this study we aimed to systematically investigate and map localization of the individual finger fascicles within the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) muscles.

Methods: Using B-mode ultrasonographic assessments, the right forearms of ten healthy participants (five males and five females) were examined during active and passive finger movements.

Results: A topographical map indicating clear core areas of fascicle activation within the FDS and FDP muscles was created.

Assessment of the effects of Kinesiotaping on musical motor performance in musicians suffering from focal hand dystonia: a pilot study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the immediate and short-term effects of a Correction Kinesiotaping intervention on fine motor control in musicians with focal hand dystonia.

Design: A single-blinded, single-arm repeated measures, pilot study.

Setting: Medical outpatient clinic.

Enhanced auditory disembedding in an interleaved melody recognition test is associated with absolute pitch ability.

Absolute pitch (AP) and autism have recently been associated with each other. Neurocognitive theories of autism could perhaps explain this co-occurrence. This study investigates whether AP musicians show an advantage in an interleaved melody recognition task (IMRT), an auditory version of an embedded figures test often investigated in autism with respect to the these theories.

Autistic traits, resting-state connectivity, and absolute pitch in professional musicians: shared and distinct neural features.

Background: Recent studies indicate increased autistic traits in musicians with absolute pitch and a higher proportion of absolute pitch in people with autism. Theoretical accounts connect both of these with shared neural principles of local hyper- and global hypoconnectivity, enhanced perceptual functioning, and a detail-focused cognitive style. This is the first study to investigate absolute pitch proficiency, autistic traits, and brain correlates in the same study.

A Tendency Towards Details? Inconsistent Results on Auditory and Visual Local-To-Global Processing in Absolute Pitch Musicians.

Absolute pitch, the ability to name or produce a musical tone without a reference, is a rare ability which is often related to early musical training and genetic components. However, it remains a matter of debate why absolute pitch is relatively common in autism spectrum disorders and why absolute pitch possessors exhibit higher autistic traits. By definition absolute pitch is an ability that does not require the relation of tones but is based on a lower-level perceptual entity than relative pitch (involving relations between tones, intervals, and melodies).

Role of ANO3 mutations in dystonia: A large-scale mutational screening study.

Background: The role of ANO3 variants as a monogenic cause of dystonia is still under debate because of its relatively high frequency also in controls.

Objective: To screen >1000 patients with movement disorders for rare ANO3 variants.

Methods: We searched for rare ANO3 variants in 729 dystonia and 294 Parkinson's disease (PD) patients using a gene panel.

Psychodiagnostics: Classification of the Yips Phenomenon based on Musician's Dystonia.

Purpose: Similar to musician's focal dystonia, a task-specific phenomenon known as yips, has also been reported in professional athletes. Yips is usually described as focal dystonia, or choking under pressure, or as lying on a continuum between both. Based on the common occupational conditions across musicians and athletes, the present exploratory study aimed to investigate whether musicians diagnosed with focal dystonia and golfers affected with yips, can be similarly subclassified based on their psychological profiles.

Personality profiles are different in musician's dystonia and other isolated focal dystonias.

Psychological abnormalities have been reported in patients with musician's dystonia. To further differentiate these abnormalities, we evaluated personality traits in musician's dystonia and compared them to those in other isolated focal dystonias. Therefore patients with musician's dystonia (n = 101) and other isolated focal dystonias (n = 85) underwent the Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI).

Epidemiology, Treatment Efficacy, and Anxiety Aspects of Music Students Affected by Playing-Related Pain: A Retrospective Evaluation with Follow-up.

Objectives: Playing-related pain (PRP) is a common problem among music students. We retrospectively assessed epidemiological factors that contributed to the manifestation of PRP and evaluated the efficacy of treatment methods used by affected music students. The long-term course of PRP symptoms was also examined, along with current (today) levels of trait anxieties.

Functional Characterization of Rare RAB12 Variants and Their Role in Musician's and Other Dystonias.

Mutations in RAB (member of the Ras superfamily) genes are increasingly recognized as cause of a variety of disorders including neurological conditions. While musician's dystonia (MD) and writer's dystonia (WD) are task-specific movement disorders, other dystonias persistently affect postures as in cervical dystonia. Little is known about the underlying etiology.

Pathophysiology of writer's cramp: an exploratory study on task-specificity and non-motor symptoms using an extended fine-motor testing battery.

Background: Writer's cramp (WC) is a task-specific focal dystonia which manifests itself as abnormal postures interfering with motor performance. As the spread of motor symptoms remains controversial and non-motor symptoms are widely discussed, in this exploratory study, we explore the pathophysiology of WC, focusing on task-specificity and the psychological profiles of WC patients.

Methods: In 14 right-handed WC patients and matched controls, we assessed motor control by applying motor performance tests (Vienna Test Series), as well as using writing analysis and grip-force measurements.

Cingulate and cerebellar beta oscillations are engaged in the acquisition of auditory-motor sequences.

Singing, music performance, and speech rely on the retrieval of complex sounds, which are generated by the corresponding actions and are organized into sequences. It is crucial in these forms of behavior that the serial organization (i.e.

Music-based interventions in neurological rehabilitation.

During the past ten years, an increasing number of controlled studies have assessed the potential rehabilitative effects of music-based interventions, such as music listening, singing, or playing an instrument, in several neurological diseases. Although the number of studies and extent of available evidence is greatest in stroke and dementia, there is also evidence for the effects of music-based interventions on supporting cognition, motor function, or emotional wellbeing in people with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, or multiple sclerosis. Music-based interventions can affect divergent functions such as motor performance, speech, or cognition in these patient groups.

Perception of Time in Music in Patients with Parkinson's Disease-The Processing of Musical Syntax Compensates for Rhythmic Deficits.

Perception of time as well as rhythm in musical structures rely on complex brain mechanisms and require an extended network of multiple neural sources. They are therefore sensitive to impairment. Several psychophysical studies have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have deficits in perceiving time and rhythms due to a malfunction of the basal ganglia (BG) network.

Objective Evaluation of Performance Stress in Musicians With Focal Hand Dystonia: A Case Series.

Five musicians suffering from focal dystonia participated in a pilot study that examined the feasibility of an experimental protocol designed to assess musicians' motor performance under stress. Electrocardiography, free cortisol levels, and subjective assessments were used to monitor alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. As measures of motor outcome, temporal variability of finger movements and muscular cocontraction of the wrist flexor and extensor were assessed.

Sonification of Arm Movements in Stroke Rehabilitation - A Novel Approach in Neurologic Music Therapy.

Gross motor impairments are common after stroke, but efficient and motivating therapies for these impairments are scarce. We present an innovative musical sonification therapy, especially designed to retrain patients' gross motor functions. Sonification should motivate patients and provide additional sensory input informing about relative limb position.

The impact of stress on motor performance in skilled musicians suffering from focal dystonia: Physiological and psychological characteristics.

Recent investigations have suggested that stress can modulate motor function. However, the impact of stress on motor performance of musicians suffering from focal dystonia (FDM) remains unknown. The current study assessed motor performance in 20 FDM patients and 16 healthy musicians (HM) before and under stress.

The role of auditory feedback in music-supported stroke rehabilitation: A single-blinded randomised controlled intervention.

Purpose: Learning to play musical instruments such as piano was previously shown to benefit post-stroke motor rehabilitation. Previous work hypothesised that the mechanism of this rehabilitation is that patients use auditory feedback to correct their movements and therefore show motor learning. We tested this hypothesis by manipulating the auditory feedback timing in a way that should disrupt such error-based learning.

Abnormal interhemispheric inhibition in musician's dystonia - Trait or state?

Introduction: A clustering of relatives with dystonia has been reported in families with musician's dystonia suggesting a genetic contribution to this disease. The aim of the present study was to determine whether interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) measured with transcranial magnetic stimulation is impaired in healthy family members rendering it a suitable endophenotypic marker for musician's dystonia.

Methods: Patients with musician's hand dystonia (n = 21), patients with sporadic writer's cramp (n = 15), their healthy family members (n = 27), healthy musicians (n = 12) and healthy non-musicians (n = 12) were included.