Prevention
Introduction
In this section, you can find out more about the prevention of focal dystonia, the importance of being aware and alert to the signs and symptoms, and the rationale behind the strategies and techniques being developed to increase preventative behaviors towards the condition amongst musicians.
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Challenges
Successful treatment of musicians' focal dystonia is achievable but can be extremely challenging, therefore prevention is enormously important. Educational programs and courses that increase awareness of a wider range of health problems that musicians may face (eg. tendonitis, carpel tunnel syndrome) have increased significantly both in educational and professional settings amongst musicians, yet focal dystonia awareness resources remain scarce.
Until very recently, risk mitigation and prevention of musicians' focal dystonia has all but been dismissed as a possibility. Instead, musicians have been asked to follow a mostly generic list of recommendations for healthy practice routines, which as most musicians know, is hard to stick to, especially when the reasons for altering habits and procedures are not made clear at the outset.