Musician's Dystonia and Maladaptive Neuroplasticity
Presented by Aviva Wolff
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This course will describe musician’s dystonia and discuss the incidence, prevalence, and risk factors of hand dystonia in musicians. We will review neuroplasticity principles and the maladaptive neuroplasticity of focal dystonia. We will describe dystonia-specific assessment tools and tests. We will discuss how to apply neuroplasticity principles to sensorimotor rehabilitation approaches and retraining the brain to modulate neuroplasticity and drive change.
Meet your instructor
Aviva Wolff
Aviva Wolff is an occupational therapist and clinician-scientist with a strong background in motor control and movement analysis and extensive experience working with performing artists and individuals with musculoskeletal injuries. She currently consults for the Juilliard School and runs the upper extremity clinical movement…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Risk Factors, Neuroplasticity Principles, and Neural Adaptation
In this chapter, we will discuss why musicians are at risk for dystonia. We will review neuroplasticity principles in a healthy brain and the maladaptive neuroplasticity that has been described in individuals with musician’s dystonia. We will review the pathophysiology of musician’s dystonia and the aberrant motor learning and neural adaptation patterns.
2. Etiology and Characteristics of Musician’s Dystonia
In this chapter, we will discuss the causes of musician’s dystonia and describe the etiology, causes, and symptoms. We will describe the characteristics of dystonic movements and associated findings.
3. Assessment of Musician’s Dystonia
This chapter will cover assessment tools and tests specific to musician’s dystonia. We will review the purpose of the assessment and discuss how to identify the primary problems. We will discuss how to conduct a thorough medical and performance history, how to perform a neuromuscular exam, how to analyze videotaped performance, and how to choose the appropriate tests and scales.
4. Sensorimotor Retraining and Rehabilitation Strategies for Musician’s Dystonia
In this chapter, we will discuss how to apply neuroplasticity principles to different intervention strategies. We will describe sensorimotor retraining approaches that are designed to restore sensorimotor topography and voluntary motor control. We will discuss the available evidence to support a range of sensorimotor approaches, such as laterality training, sensory discrimination, graded motor imagery, mirror therapy, and fine motor training.
