Looking at Musicians' Health through the "Ages"

Ralph A. Manchester
From: Medical Problems of Performing Artists: Volume 24 Number 2: Page 55 (June 2009)

Abstract: This month's editorial is based on a presentation that I did at the International Congress on Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, which was held in Freiburg, Germany, in late March. Stimulated by some recent articles published in MPPA, I attempted to review what we know about the pattern of performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) among instrumental musicians over the lifespan. For the purposes of this review, I have not made any attempt to do a rigorous critique of the methods used in each study, but there are some key definitions and terminology that are relevant. Since even small differences in terminology can produce significant variation in the results, this adds to the difficulty of drawing conclusions from the studies published to date.

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