Are disorders like Focal Dystonia related to the Body Map?
Yes. MRI brain scans of musicians with Focal Dystonia show a blurring in the bodymaps between neighboring fingers. This loss of differentiation evident in the bodymaps is a type of neuroplasticity gone awry. Focal Dystonias among musicians, then, are actually acquired, not diseases: not diseases as medicine defines the term, but disorders that are developed or learned. Again, the good news: musicians can change these maps, which explains why we hear more and more about musicians recovering from Dystonia. So far, practitioners in the field of music medicine have proven that they have very little to offer us. By their own account (their own numbers), their therapies succeed in helping musicians recover 1% of the time. The reason they are so unsuccessful is because the problems that musicians typically have are not medical problems but movement problems. Of course I always insist that any injured musician first go see a physician to rule out disease. But if there is no disease then it is
Yes. MRI brain scans of musicians with Focal Dystonia show a blurring in the bodymaps between neighboring fingers. This loss of differentiation evident in the bodymaps is a type of neuroplasticity gone awry. Focal Dystonias among musicians, then, are actually acquired, not diseases: not diseases as medicine defines the term, but disorders that are developed or learned. Again, the good news: musicians can change these maps, which explains why we hear more and more about musicians recovering from Dystonia. So far, practitioners in the field of music medicine have proven that they have very little to offer us. By their own account (their own numbers), their therapies succeed in helping musicians recover 2% of the time. The reason they are so unsuccessful is because the problems that musicians typically have are not medical problems but movement problems. Of course I always insist that any injured musician first go see a physician to rule out disease. But if there is no disease then it is
