Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT: This study focused on the motor skills and practice strategies em‐ployed by piano players in relation to playing‐related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). A questionnaire was designed by the researchers to investigate the prevalence of PRMDs among both professional and non‐professional piano play‐ers. A pilot study was conducted to assess the test‐retest reliability of the in‐strument, which was high (r = .92). Respondents (N = 505) completed the self‐administered questionnaire, with 42.4% reporting PRMDs. A higher proportion of professional musicians (71.9%) reported PRMDs (p < .05) in comparison with 38.1% of respondents who were not professional musicians. Respondents who played with elevated shoulders and maintained a neutral wrist posture were also likely to report PRMDs. Professional pianists were more likely than non‐professional players to report PRMDs, while among those who experienced PRMDs, respondents who defined themselves as teachers reported more severe symptoms than did players. Respondents who had played the piano for longest, who practised for the most hours and most regularly were most likely to report PRMDs. There was no significant effect of players' hand span on the occurrence of PRMDs. PRMDs seemed to arise when overuse was compounded by misuse and/or adverse playing conditions, and so we concluded that PRMDs do not have one or more simple causes, but are the product of many interacting factors.
KEYWORDS: Injury, wrist, shoulder, hand span, keyboard, overuse.
Pianists' musculoskeletal complaints commonly include tendonitis, overuse syndrome, car‐pal tunnel syndrome at the wrist and radial nerve compression at the elbow (Harding, Brandt, & Hillberry, 1989). Both professional pianists and non‐professional piano players are at risk of playing‐related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs), which include mainly soft tis‐sue (muscle, ligament and tendon) conditions related to mechanical strain, but may also in‐volve bone, cartilage and nerves, with such symptoms being experienced as pain and loss of function that relate specifically to piano playing. Factors that may contribute to the inci‐dence of PRMDs appear to include biomechanical inefficiency of wrist, finger, elbow and shoulder postures and movements, extremely long hours of practice, and insufficient regard for the characteristics of and structural differences between individual pianos.
Lippmann (1991) argues that 'overuse' is a simplistic label that ignores various other possible correctable causes of malfunction in the playing of a musical instrument. A diagno‐sis of...