Effects of self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques on musculoskeletal disorders of professional orchestra musicians: a randomized controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Musicians are frequently affected by playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD). Common solutions used by Western medicine to treat musculoskeletal pain include rehabilitation programs and drugs, but their results are sometimes disappointing.


OBJECTIVE
To study the effects of self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques on the pain intensity caused by PRMD of professional orchestra musicians, using numeric visual scale (NVS).


METHODS
We performed a prospective, controlled, single-blinded, randomized study with musicians suffering from PRMD. Participating musicians were randomly distributed into the experimental (n=39) and the control (n=30) groups. After an individual diagnostic assessment, specific Tuina self-administered exercises were developed and taught to the participants. Musicians were instructed to repeat the exercises every day for 3 weeks.


METHODS
Pain intensity was measured by NVS before the intervention and after 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 d of treatment. The procedure was the same for the control group, however the Tuina exercises were executed in points away from the commonly-used acupuncture points.


RESULTS
In the treatment group, but not the control group, pain intensity was significantly reduced on days 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20.


CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained are consistent with the hypothesis that self-administered exercises based on Tuina techniques could help professional musicians controlling the pain caused by PRMD. Although our results are very promising, further studies are needed employing a larger sample size and double blinding designs.
Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, 4099-030 Porto, Portugal; E-mail: claudia.sousa@ua.pt.
Cláudia Maria
CM
Sousa
Porto Polytechnic Institute, Superior School of Music and PerformingArts, 4000-035 Porto, Portugal.
Daniela
D
Coimbra
Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, 4099-030 Porto, Portugal.
Jorge
J
Machado
Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar, University of Porto, 4099-030 Porto, Portugal.|German Society of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany.|Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany.
Henry J
HJ
Greten
D000328:Adult; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D009146:Music; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012646:Self Administration; D016037:Single-Blind Method