title: Sensory and sensorimotor features in violinists and violists with neck pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate sensory and sensorimotor function in violin and viola players with and without neck pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  University laboratory.
  
  
  METHODS
  Convenience sample of violin players with playing-related neck pain (n=22), violinists without neck pain (n=21), and healthy nonmusician comparison subjects (n=21).
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Measures include thermal pain thresholds (cold and heat) and pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) over the cervical spine and over a remote region (tibialis anterior muscle). Motor performance tests including reaction times, speed of movement, accuracy, coordination, and tapping speed assessed with a special upper-limb test battery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Musicians with neck pain had significantly lower heat and elevated cold pain thresholds as well as lower PPTs over C5-6 (P<.01) and over the tibialis anterior (P<.05). Motor performance tests revealed no differences between the symptomatic and asymptomatic musicians and nonmusician comparison groups (P>.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Violin players with neck pain demonstrated signs of sensory impairment, suggesting that playing-related neck pain may be associated with augmented central pain processing consistent with findings in other neck pain groups. No differences were evident in the motor performance tests. Fine motor skills of violin players may be better assessed in the context of playing their musical instruments before definitive conclusions can be drawn about the presence or not of sensorimotor impairments in this group of musicians with playing-related neck pain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Traumatology, and Physical Medicine, Martin-Luther-University of Halle, Halle (Saale), Germany; Department of Manual Medicine and Pain Medicine, Institute of Musicians' Medicine, Kremmen/OT Sommerfeld, Germany. Electronic address: anke.steinmetz@uk-halle.de.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steinmetz
authors.affiliation: National Health and Medical Research Council Centre of Clinical Research Excellence in Spinal Pain, Injury and Health, Division of Physiotherapy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors.forename: Gwendolen A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Jull
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017288:Pain Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D011312:Pressure; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: HPM/BEP; Human Performance Measurement/Basic Elements of Performance; ICC; NDI; Neck Disability Index; Neck pain; PPT; Pain threshold; Psychomotor performance; Rehabilitation; SEM; Sensory motor performance; Sensory thresholds; VAS; intraclass correlation coefficient; pressure pain threshold; standard error of measurement; visual analog scale