Occurrence and co-existence of localized musculoskeletal symptoms and findings in work-attending orchestra musicians - an exploratory cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundDue to ergonomic exposure musicians are at risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, back, and upper extremities. The literature confirms musculoskeletal problems in these anatomic regions among orchestra musicians.MethodsAn explorative cross-sectional study among 441 musicians from six Danish symphony orchestras; 216 underwent a clinical examination constructed for the purpose. Prior to the examination the musicians rated their maximally perceived trouble within the last week on a scheme blinded to the examiner. Accessibility to the clinical examination differed between orchestras.The aims were to assess the prevalence of 1) perceived symptoms within the previous week in the neck, back and limbs and of 2) clinical findings in the neck, back, and upper extremities, and 3) to investigate the co-existence of the perceived symptoms and clinical findings.ResultsSymptoms and findings were most common in the neck, back, and shoulders. Due to a poor co-existence between self-reported symptoms and clinical findings musicians experiencing bodily trouble could not be identified through this clinical examination. Free accessibility to the examination was of major importance to participation.ConclusionsIn compliance with the purpose, perceived symptoms within the previous week and present clinical findings were assessed. Although both symptoms and findings were most frequent in the neck, back, and shoulders the co-existence of anatomically localized symptoms and findings was generally quite poor in this study.Discrepancy between symptoms and findings might be caused by the participants currently attending work and therefore being relatively healthy, and the fluctuating nature of musculoskeletal problems. Furthermore from a comparison of different measuring units - self-reported symptoms being period prevalence rates and clinical findings point prevalence rates; a bias which may also be inherent in similar studies combining self-reported questionnaire data and clinical findings.

Musculoskeletal problems among string instrumentalists in South Africa

“…This distribution is similar to studies performed on professional orchestra instrumentalists (Leaver et al 2011 ; Paarup et al 2012 ). Postural and bowing demands of playing the specific string instrument are consistent with the body regions affected, and this explains the variability in the distribution of musculoskeletal problems with regard to each string instrument (Paarup et al 2012 ). The increased prevalence of musculoskeletal problems in the low back among violists when compared to violinists in this study is an interesting finding.…”

“…A 17-item self-administered questionnaire was modified from existing questionnaires in the literature (Berque, Gray & Mcfadyen 2014 ; Blackie, Stone & Tiernan 1999 ; Paarup et al 2012 ). Questions relating to the prevalence, distribution or severity of musculoskeletal problems and symptoms of musculoskeletal injury were modified from literature (Berque et al 2014 ; Blackie et al 1999 ; Paarup et al 2012 ). The questionnaire comprised three sections which included socio-demographics, practice experience and history of musculoskeletal injury.…”

Psychosocial work aspects, stress and musculoskeletal pain among musicians. A systematic review in search of correlates and predictors of playing-related pain

“…Kaufman-Cohen and Ratzon [4] argue that the majority of musicians experience musculoskeletal problems at least once in their lives. Indeed, earlier studies indicate that musculoskeletal disorders occur among 38 up to 89% of musicians [4,[12][13][14][15].…”

Have musicians’ musculoskeletal symptoms been thoroughly addressed? A systematic mapping review

“…Some 22 studies also investigated the association between different MSS outcomes. Similar to the extent/severity studies, the majority (86%) of the studies of risk factors reported general symptom outcomes[27,28,30,38,[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]53,54,60,64,65,69,71,74,76,[79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][91][92][93][95][96][97][106][107][108]110,111,115,116,119,122,125,126,[129][130][131][133][134][135][138][139][140][141][142][154][155]…”