Оveruse injuries in musicians. part i: etiopathogenesis, diagnostics

Abstract

Overuse injuries are encountered by 50-85 % of instrumental musicians and manifest themselves in tendovaginitis, bursitis and tunnel syndromes, leading to long-term temporary loss of ability to work (and in severe cases, to permanent disability). For Ukraine, the problem is of particular relevance for several reasons: first, there have been no studies of the professional diseases of musicians in the country in the last decade; second, there are a very large number of music schools in the country, but none of them teaches future musicians how to prevent occupational diseases; thirdly, there are no specialized medical centres for the treatment of professional pathology of musicians. The aim of the research was to analyze the latest achievements in diagnosing, treating and preventing stress injuries in musicians. The analysis was performed by studies published in 2016-2020 in journals indexed in the Scopus, WoS, Medline and PubMed scientific databases. It has been established that the etiopathogenesis of overuse injuries in musicians is associated with a whole complex of primary and secondary factors. The non-physiological performing technique is of greatest importance: the inability to evenly distribute the load on the muscles involved in performing practice, as well as the non-ergonomic posture. Excessive playing duration is no less harmful: more than three hours of continuous practice every day. Serious aggravating factors are: impairment of range of joint movement (hyper- or hypomobility), weak physical strength of the muscles of the shoulder girdle and spine, a small hand with short fingers (for pianists and string players), and low awareness of instrumental musicians (both students and teachers) in the prevention of occupational diseases, due to the imperfection of the music education system.