Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - here's a link

Gregg L wrote:
"David Raleigh Arnold" <dra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:PCztm.97475$Y83.61638@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:46:38 +0000, Rufus wrote:

David Raleigh Arnold wrote:
On Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:00:27 -0700, Lumpy wrote:

Master Betty wrote:
"I'm also determined to warn fellow musicians who may not be aware
how much they can be harming their brain through over-practice."
Wow...something else to worry about!
J-Bo:
My teacher says that he's absolutely sure I'm safe and not to worry.
I haven't read the article.
What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from over-practice? I
got the impression she developed some kind of carpal tunnel like
thing. Where's the "harmed brain"?
I don't think that FD is a medical condition at all. I think that it's
a learning disorder, that it has enough causes that looking at it as
cause-and-effect is futile, and that it is best regarded as a state
which has several supporting conditions.

That does not mean that there's no way back, but the way back is
retraining, and that's a long hard road.

The latest brain research gives a clue. There are areas of the brain
which learn *unconsciously*. They are utterly and forever inaccessible
to the consciousness. Only humans are known to have these faculties,
which can encompass body images of others. That enables people to
imitate others and get it right the first time, or to anticipate the
actions of a whole team on a game field. "Monkey see, monkey do" is
something people can do and monkeys can't.

Too much playing without full attention creates the problem, along with
aging muscle systems which change the balance of forces in playing, so
that you can no longer coordinate the incredibly complicated task of
moving the index and middle fingers to play. The most primitive parts
of the brain interpret this failure as muscular weakness, and send
tension to strengthen the muscles. So the "symptoms" of FD are not the
disorder, but an attempt at a cure, just as a fever is an attempt to
cure a disease. A gross physical cause, or simple overuse or
"smudging" is pretty much ruled out by the specificity of the finger
actions which bring on the cramping tension, so you were right on
target in being skeptical.

The full attention has to be on the fingers of the RH and *not just on
the music!* Therefore, there has to be more slow practice than seems
to be necessary. That is hard to maintain, and hard to believe until
it's too late.

It's only imim in the RH of the guitar player, but in both hands of the
pianist. That is also an important clue. There is no confusion
between muscular weakness and a training problem in the LH of the
guitarist. You can't get tense from too much chord practice.

Why index and middle? Because they have the least necessary flexion of
opposing muscles when alternating. The fact that there is less
exertion in their opposing muscles makes the balance of forces more
precarious.

More rasgeado should help. Perhaps the pianist could play a piano with
the keyboard upside down sometimes, so that he would strike a key by
lifting a finger? ;-)

It's like driving a car. If you do it without full attention, you may
get away with it, in fact you probably will, but with playing keyboard
or finger style guitar, a bad outcome is much more certain, although of
course the guitar won't kill you. Why more certain? Because playing is
much more complicated than driving a car.

So the problem is a failure of the consciousness to coordinate with the
unconscious. I think step one in living with FD is to own it. It
isn't anything that happened to me, I did it to myself, and I am
totally responsible for it. If I don't own it, and understand it, how
can I expect to beat it?

It should be obvious by now that none of this relates to the rather
nonsensical idea of a "subconscious mind". Unconscious body images are
formed without awareness of the process, but interpretation of the
images, fortunately, can be done consciously. Regards, daveA


...it's a curiosity, but I'd like to know what the incidence of
Alzheimer's is in people whom develop this disorder.
It doesn't matter.
The brain and nervous system are very complex systems, and if you want
to bring cognition into the mix I have to believe that we only know
about a thumbnail's worth of how that affects anything.
If it's broken, it doesn't matter whether it was broken by a
sledge or a knife or aluminum poisoning. The repair, if any,
is retraining. Any physical problem can mess you up of
course. The condition itself is just not a disease. Regards,
daveA

There is evidence strongly suggestive of a genetic component.
A genome-wide study is being planned.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/701830
Gregg



....ok...I can't get into that site, but genetic predisposition is EXACTLY the sort of thing I'm thinking of. And I'd be curious as to if the trait is shared/linked between FD and any other disorder.

--
- Rufus
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - heres a link
    ... What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from over-practice? ... out by the specificity of the finger actions which bring on the ... exertion in their opposing muscles makes the balance of forces more ... playing keyboard or finger style guitar, ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - heres a link
    ... What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from ... specificity of the finger actions which bring on the cramping ... practice than seems to be necessary. ... It's only imim in the RH of the guitar player, ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - heres a link
    ... What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from over-practice? ... "smudging" is pretty much ruled out by the specificity of the finger ... It's only imim in the RH of the guitar player, but in both hands of the ... exertion in their opposing muscles makes the balance of forces more ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - heres a link
    ... What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from ... ruled out by the specificity of the finger actions which bring on ... It's only imim in the RH of the guitar player, ... Regards, daveA ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)
  • Re: Focal Dystonia: Leona Boyd Gives up guitar? - yes - heres a link
    ... What, exactly, is this brain harm that occurrs from over-practice? ... the "symptoms" of FD are not the disorder, but an attempt at a cure, ... the specificity of the finger actions which bring on the cramping ... keyboard or finger style guitar, a bad outcome is much more certain, ...
    (alt.guitar.beginner)