Daniel Haugen produces the instrument. He takes a good hug around the baritone and shapes his mouth against the large mouthpiece. The 22-year-old takes a deep breath – and blows. There comes a tone, but not the one he wants. Not the one he has practiced for months and years. It started a year ago. – I was in the middle of a normal playing period. Then I felt that there was something strange in my lip. It almost felt like someone else’s lips were playing the instrument for me. Daniel Haugen had acquired what in the technical language is called musician dystonia, which is a form of task-specific dystonia. A disorder that can affect professional musicians, often in their 30s and 40s, at the peak of their careers. It got so bad that before Christmas last year he considered dropping out of his studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music and finding something else to do. Exercise-specific dystonia Dystonia is a form of involuntary muscle movements / muscle cramps. If only one area of the body is affected, it is called focal dystonia. A separate type of focal dystonia is called task-specific dystonia. By this is meant involuntary muscle cramps that are triggered when a certain physical activity / task is performed with the affected body part. The most common type of task-specific dystonia is dyslexia, another is so-called musician dystonia. Exercise-specific dystonia differs from other types of dystonia in several ways. The underlying cause is probably partly different from other types of dystonia. It is less common for this type of focal dystonia to develop into more extensive dystonia. Task-specific dystonia is triggered by motor tasks that involve repetitive activity that requires high precision and where a lot of time has been spent performing the activity. An example of this is intense practice of technically demanding instrument playing. Source: Dystoni.no Must learn again In a rehearsal room at school, news researcher Anders Førisdal meets. As a classical guitarist, he received the same diagnosis just over ten years ago. During a concert, he had problems with his finger grip. – I was a bit tense in the right hand and the middle finger in a way did not want to return. It was left inside when it was to strike the chord again. Førisdal still plays classical guitar, but has worked his way through the problem by taking the guitar grips in a different way. – We must teach the brain new movements. Some people talk about playing healthier, says Daniel Haugen. Daniel Haugen rehearses with Karen van der Starre at the Norwegian Academy of Music. Photo: Bo Lilledal Andersen / news Can affect several Department of Neurology at Rikshospitalet admits patients with various forms of dystonia. There are people who work with repetitive movements. Not only musicians, but also golfers and people who type a lot of data. Chief physician Inger Marie Skogseid says that dystonia occurs because the brain is not always able to sort out which muscles are to be activated in fine motor skills. – To become a good musician, you have to practice a lot, repeat and use fine motor muscles. This can cause problems with some of the small movements required to play an instrument. – You may be predisposed to get dystonia. But even though this may be in the genes, it is not certain that others in the family have had a similar problem, says Skogseid. SUPERVISOR: Inger Marie Skogseid at Rikshospitalet in Oslo. Photo: Bo Lilledal Andersen / news “Like getting out of the closet” Psychomotor physiotherapist at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Karen van der Starre, works with several people who struggle with musician dystonia. She compares it to sports. – It is expected that a top athlete can injure himself. And they have a large aid apparatus around. If a top musician is injured, the result is often the reserve bench. You lose the opportunity to play concerts and thus the income base. – Admitting that you are struggling with this is like getting out of the closet. That is why there are large dark numbers, says van der Starre. She does not know exactly how many people struggle with musician dystonia. It is probably about 1 to 5 percent. But can also apply to many more. – Lucky to get it early Daniel Haugen has in one year come a long way in tackling the problem. Along the way, he has mentally been far down in the basement. Now he is well on his way up again. – In a way, he is lucky to experience this so early in a musician’s career. For now he is learning the right methods. How he can prevent and interpret the signals in the body if musician dystonia should strike again, says Karen van der Starre. At the Norwegian Academy of Music, Haugen now uses his own experiences to help others who are struggling. – When I talk to other students about rehearsals, many ghosts come out of the closet. Then I meet others who have not talked to anyone about what they are struggling with. – Finally I can play more and more again. And that sounds a lot nicer to me than before, he smiles. May have had musician dystonia The German composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) may have had musician dystonia. Schumann was a young promising pianist. He practiced a lot, but had problems with his right middle finger not following the piano playing. He started with intense training of the fingers. Today we know that too much and wrong exercise can exacerbate the problem. Schumann gave up playing the piano and concentrated on composing music. Among other things, he has written music that can be played without the right middle finger. An example is “Toccata, op.7, C major” composed in 1833.
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Rikshospitalet gets in many who struggle with dystonia – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
