Musicians injuries: Upper quarter motor control deficits in musicians with prolonged symptoms - A case-control study.

STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study.

BACKGROUND: A large number of student and professional musicians are affected by long term playing related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMSDs) during their career, with prevalence rates above 80%.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate if there were differences between musicians with and without prolonged symptoms of upper quarter PRMSDs in the presence of: (1) scapular dyskinesis; (2) cervical motor control and endurance deficits.

METHODS: Seventy-two musicians (24 males; 48 females) were matched based on sex, type of instrument and average hours played per week and assigned to one of two groups: A symptomatic group (mean age 23.3 ± 8.2 years) with history of prolonged PRMSDs (constant symptoms lasting more than one week) during the past year; and a control group (mean age 25 ± 10.5 years) with no history of PRMSDs lasting more than one week. Musicians completed a questionnaire and underwent clinical testing for the presence of scapular dyskinesis and cervical motor control and endurance deficits using the following tests: (1) cervical flexor endurance test; (2) scapular dyskinesis test; and (3) craniocervical flexion test. Assessor blinding as to group assignment was ensured.

RESULTS: Participants in the symptomatic group presented with a statistically significant higher prevalence of positive scapular dyskinesis (P < .0001; OR = 7.8) and lower scores for the craniocervical flexion test (P < .0001).

CONCLUSION: Musicians with prolonged symptoms of PRMSDs presented with higher prevalence of scapular and cervical motor control deficits detected by standard clinical tests when compared to the control group.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapy, level 4. CLINICALTRIALS.

GOV IDENTIFIER: NCT02267395.