title: Joint laxity in the performing arts.
abstract: Traditional scoring systems for the assessment of joint flexibility are reviewed and reasons for variation in joint laxity are defined. The value of controlled joint laxity in the hands and arms of musicians is then discussed as well as the desirability of adjusting laxity at the various joints used in the different styles of dance, some of them ethnic, that depend on the specific articular characteristics of each different dancer.
authors.affiliation: Emeritus Professor of Pharmacological Rheumatology, University of Leeds; Retired Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist, General Infirmary at Leeds; and Visiting Professor in Performing Arts Medicine, University College, London, United Kingdom. howard.a.bird@gmail.com.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D003615:Dancing; D006801:Humans; D007593:Joint Instability / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D009146:Music; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*