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To understand what factors may contribute to the problems experienced by conservatory/music school students, we surveyed incoming freshman music students about their history of playing-related pain from four consecutive entering classes at a midwestern university school of music. A total of 330 students (46% male, 54% female) participated in the study and completed a 22-item questionnaire. Seventy-nine percent of students reported a history of playing-related pain. Pain frequency varied by instrument class, ranging from 61% among voice students to 100% for percussionists, but for strings, keyboards, woodwinds, and brass players, it was consistently 84 to 87%. There was no significant association between frequency of pain history and gender (76% for males vs 81% for females), years of instrument study, participation in regular exercise, or occurrence of performance anxiety. Although this study was unable to identify factors linked to playing-related pain, it does indicate that in a population of incoming freshmen, who are young people presumably in otherwise good health and with a "clean slate," the majority had already encountered music-induced pain as high school students or younger. Med Probl Perform Art 2009; 24:30-36.
Since the advent of performing arts medicine as a specialty in the 1980s there has been interest in examining the health of specific groups of musicians, such as professionals in orchestras or players of particular instruments. This is logical as a way to better understand the larger musical population in a field in which historically there has been scant clinical data. One group that has served as a frequent focus of study is music students. Two reasons in particular have contributed to their selection. The first is that educators have become aware of an apparently increased rate of occurrence of performancerelated medical problems among students. The second reason for using music students is more pragmatic: the relative accessibility and stability of student populations make them convenient subjects. One need only scan the table of contents of Medical Problems of Performing Artists since its inception in 19861 to confirm the increasing number of papers based on music students. Students are an additionally attractive group for study because it is more effective to identify medical problems as they arise rather than once they are established, with the expectation that duration of injury...