Abstract
Introduction: Australia has eight full-time professional symphonic and pit orchestras. This paper reports on the major findings from the physical examination component of a cross-sectional survey of the musicians, the first stage of a long-running national study and focuses on upper limb anthropomorphic measures and their association with different instrument types. Methods: All musician members of the orchestras participating in this project were invited to undertake a physical assessment, using a standardized protocol. The overall response rate was 76% (n=408). Results: The musicians were experienced (mean professional playing time = 20.6 years; standard deviation =10.7). For nearly all strength and anthropometric measures, men had higher mean results than women. Sex but not age was correlated with most measures. Many measures were highly correlated and most measures did not differ importantly between instruments. Upper strings players had significantly greater range of supination on the left but not the right; lower strings players had significantly greater hand span on the left but not the right; brass players had significantly greater grip strength and longer forearms. Conclusion: This study provides detailed estimates for a large range of common anthropometric measures relevant to the physical assessment and musculoskeletal functioning of professional orchestral musicians and identified potentially important differences in some of these measures between musicians playing particular instruments.
Highlights
Australia has eight full-time professional symphonic and pit orchestras
Little is known about the musculoskeletal profile of these performers, creating challenges for the physical assessment of musicians and the implementation of effective injury management or prevention protocols
The musculoskeletal assessment procedures were selected to maximize reliability when performed by different raters [9] and the tests chosen to best reflect the specific needs of the orchestral musician
Summary
Australia has eight full-time professional symphonic and pit orchestras. This paper reports on the major findings from the physical examination component of a cross-sectional survey of the musicians, the first stage of a long-running national study and focuses on upper limb anthropomorphic measures and their association with different instrument types. Conducting a musculoskeletal assessment is a fundamental component of management of injuries [1]. Little is known about the musculoskeletal profile of these performers, creating challenges for the physical assessment of musicians and the implementation of effective injury management or prevention protocols. A physical examination protocol [8] was conducted by a team of trained physiotherapists in eight large professional orchestras as part of a national orchestral occupational health project, Sound Practice. The aim of the study was to establish baseline measures for a range of mostly upper body musculoskeletal assessment procedures in professional musicians and to examine the extent of variation between instrumentalists that might result from the particular load created by the physical demands of many years of playing their instrument
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