The impact of injury definitions on measures of injury occurrence in classical music students: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

Background: Multiple definitions are used to investigate injuries in musicians, resulting in a wide range of prevalence rates. The aim of this study is to establish the impact of different injury definitions on the prevalence of injuries and disability in classical music students. Moreover, the practical implications of using different injury definitions are considered. Methods: A prospective cohort study among first-year classical music students was performed using bimonthly questionnaires focusing on injuries. Three injury definitions were used: 1) all MSK complaints injury (any MSK complaint resulting in a VAS pain score > 0 in the past eight weeks), 2) medical attention injury (any MSK complaint that resulted in a student consulting a health provider in the past eight weeks), 3) time-loss injury (any MSK complaint that resulted in partly/completely missing music classes or activities in the past eight weeks). For all injury definitions prevalences were calculated and compared. Furthermore, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand performing arts module (DASH-pa) was used to calculate disability scores for all three injury definitions. Results: Twenty-nine classical music students participated in the current study. The total response rate over one academic year was 85.3%. One year prevalences of all MSK complaints, medical attention and time-loss were 96.6, 17.2 and 13.8% respectively. The bimonthly prevalences ranged from 74.1 to 96.0% for all MSK complaints, from 5.6 to 11.5% for medical attention injuries and from 0 to 11.5% for time loss injuries. Scores on the DASH-pa ranged from 15.6 to 26.9 for MSK complaints, 33.3 to 50 for medical attention and 47.9 to 62.5 for time-loss injuries. Conclusion: The choice of injury definition is a critical factor affecting the outcome of music injury surveillance studies. To reach a consensus, it is therefore important to consider the different injury definitions depending on the goal of the injury surveillance and the practical implications.

Multiple Factors Influencing Healthy Performance for Pre-professional and Professional Classical Violinists: An Exploratory Study Focusing on Physical Health

“…This was implied in a previous study, in which different injury definitions in classical music students were compared. In this study, the “all musculoskeletal complaints” definition resulted in a much higher one-year prevalence (96.6%) than the “medical attention” definition (17.2%), indicating that music students do not easily seek help ( Steemers et al, 2020 ). From these findings, it seems that offering support from healthcare practitioners with a focus on prevention may result in earlier detection of possible injuries.…”

Health consultations at a performing arts health centre among classical music students based on electronic health record data: a cross-sectional study

“…Furthermore, a team of health professionals can use this information for suitable support and guidance in recovery or optimizing a healthy way of playing music. The influence of injury definitions on outcomes in classical music students was already investigated by our group ( Steemers et al, 2020a ). We found a large discrepancy between the percentage of using an all musculoskeletal complaint definition (96.6%) compared to a medical attention (17.2%) and time-loss definition (13.8%), all used in the same population.…”

Autoconsciência corporal e queixas álgicas em estudantes universitários de música

“…A cohort study, with first-year classical music students aiming to investigate whether the way of defining injury in musicians is a factor impacting the prevalence of injury and disability, revealed that the percentages of injury varied according to the definition considered, demonstrating that the way students understand the https://doi.org/10.7322/abcshs.2020227.1679 musculoskeletal disorder and assign meanings to musculoskeletal issues can impact on the detection of potential injury and therefore the ability for timely intervention 36 .…”