5 Tips for Navigating a Playing-Related Injury, #1: Be an Informed Advocate for Yourself
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When I was finally diagnosed with focal dystonia by one of the leading neurologists in the field, five months after my first symptoms, he watched me play a C-major scale and then briskly informed me I'd probably never play professionally again.
I'd gone to see him, after waiting months for an appointment, simply because I wanted an official diagnosis: visits to other medical professionals, including a rehab medicine specialist and an occupational therapist, had yielded no solid conclusions. The neurologist, in contrast, quickly diagnosed me but said since my impairment wasn't bad enough to warrant treatment I should just wait for it to get worse and return in a year for Botox injections.
Fortunately, I'd already done my own investigation, probably because I'm the daughter of a research librarian (thanks, Mom!). Within weeks of first encountering symptoms I'd read numerous accounts of musicians who had fully recovered via neuroplastic movement retraining, and by the time I met the neurologist I'd already started that process. His dismissive pronouncement was a downer, but it didn't derail me.
Colleagues I met at a seminar for musicians with dystonia, some of whom came from countries with less developed medical systems, suffered for years without getting a diagnosis, let alone treatment. Many of them were told their symptoms were just psychological, or offered radical surgeries that would permanently alter their tendons, ligaments, and muscles. And that's just dystonia—a horn player I know was diagnosed with tendinitis, carpal tunnel, thoracic outlet syndrome, among other things, before finally discovering the Alexander technique, which improved her physical use and healed her injury at the root.
The fact is, alternative treatments for injuries and ailments have their limits. So does conventional medicine. There is a place for both. So the first step in healing is to do your own research, maintain healthy skepticism, balance realism with optimism, and learn to be your own best advocate.