Musician health and safety: Preventing playing-related musculoskeletal disorders.

Full Abstract

Musicians are exposed to high-risk musculoskeletal activities such as repetition, hours of exposure, and awkward postures when playing instruments. These activities may result in playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. Musicians often work part-time or seasonally or are self-employed. Thus, they may be uninsured or underinsured and may delay seeking care for these painful and potentially disabling conditions. Prevention of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders includes identification of both intrinsic (e.g., musician strength and flexibility) and extrinsic (e.g., musician posture while playing an instrument) factors involved in the interface between musicians and their instruments and the playing environment (e.g., rest breaks or hours of practice). Student occupational health nurse practitioners in this pilot project performed outreach and comprehensive screening and treatment for a small group of musicians diagnosed as having playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. Tendon and nerve gliding exercises were a key component of the treatment plan.

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Author information

Author/s: Foxman, Irina (I); Burgel, Barbara J (BJ);

Affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of California Medical Center, CA, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: AAOHN journal : official journal of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN J), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jul; vol 54 (issue 7) : pp 309-16

Dates: Created 2006/07/25; Completed 2006/08/24; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 16862878, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Community-Institutional Relations
Exercise Therapy
Female
Health Surveys
Human Engineering
Humans
Male
Medically Uninsured
Middle Aged
Musculoskeletal Diseases - epidemiology; etiology; prevention & control
Music
Nurse's Role

Nurse's Role
Nursing Assessment
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology; etiology; prevention & control
Occupational Health
Occupational Health Nursing - organization & administration
Patient Education as Topic
Pilot Projects
Posture
Primary Prevention
Questionnaires
Risk Factors
Safety Management - organization & administration
United States - epidemiology

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