Performing artists may face debilitating injury.

• Position: Repetitive Stress - Brief Article

The rigors encountered by performing artists are similar to those endured by professional athletes. They each undertake a vigorous regimen of training and conditioning. "Musicians and other performing artists are exposed to tremendous amounts of stress in the upper extremities during practices and recitals," notes Barry P. Simmons, professor of orthopedic surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston. "Even the less-aggressive music of the composers like Bach presents many of the same potentials for strain and injury."

The demands of excellence, precision, and endurance can be costly to the body of the performing artist, often leading to seriously debilitating conditions such as carpal tunnel or cubital tunnel syndrome. (Carpal tunnel is caused by pressure exerted on the median nerve at the wrist; cubital tunnel, by repeated injury/ pressure on the ulnar nerve at the elbow.) These conditions are not limited to performing artists such as musicians. They may also occur in other artists, such as sculptors and painters who extensively use their hands and upper extremities.

Treatments available to performing artists...