Why do we need to investigate non-classical musicians to reduce the burden of musicians’ musculoskeletal symptoms?

Abstract

Musculoskeletal symptoms (MSSs) are common among professional musicians; however, most of the research has focused on orchestral/classical musicians. In some countries orchestral and classical musicians are in the minority; hence targeting research towards these specific sub-groups of musicians is unlikely to address the overall burden of musicians’ MSSs, unless the research is generalizable to other types of musicians. This multidisciplinary narrative review seeks to answer the question: “why do we need to examine the MSSs of non-classical groups of performing musicians in order to reduce the burden of musicians’ MSSs?”. There are differences in the education, posture, tasks (e.g. military training for military band musicians, dancing for those in musical theatre), venues and management of MSSs for different types of musicians. Future research should compare classical and non-classical musicians in order to determine which specific sub-groups (e.g. military band musicians) have the greatest MSS burden, such that further research into the risk factors of and interventions for MSSs can be targeted towards the sub-groups of musicians with the greatest MSS burden. In doing so, we maximise the likelihood of being able to introduce interventions, policies and practice that reduce the burden of musicians’ MSSs.