I’ve met many MFD sufferers who have already tried several different retraining programs but felt that none of them worked. They kept trying, saying that the next coach, doctor, or therapist is going to make a difference, and then felt cheated and in despair over and over again. Mindset There’s a crucial, but often overlooked […]
“Text neck” is a very common postural fault among my MFD clients, but in their case, we probably should call it “practice neck”. Wind players will tend to push their head forward to meet the instrument, instead of raising the instrument to meet the embouchure. Pianists lean over the keyboard, guitarists drop their heads in […]
I recently ran across an interesting comment in an online Musician’s Focal Dystonia support group. The entry quotes seemingly contradictory pieces of advice from coaches and sufferers on how to retrain from MFD. As I read through the advice, I realized that I used much of this advice in my coaching sessions, despite them appearing […]
One of the things I always work on with my MFD clients is the mindset. Usually, when the symptoms of MFD first appears, it demands attention, and soon the symptom is the only thing we can think about when we’re approaching the instrument. The MFD symptom causes fear, frustration, tension, and all kinds of negative […]
As I was going through my old notes I’ve written while recovering from my embouchure focal dystonia, I found something which I think could be helpful for everyone going through the recovery process. I had written about a belief, which buried itself deeply in my subconscious and silently controlled the way I practiced and lived. […]
I do postural work with everyone I coach and have been doing so for years. We work on posture with the instrument, away from the instrument, and in general daily life activities. This short TED-Ed clip helps to explain why… 😉
The worst part of living with focal dystonia is the helplessness, and the feeling of being impotent and powerless. The feeling that you have no control over the situation whatsoever, and the symptoms are playing a nasty game with you, ruining your life. I don’t really have to tell you that this is not the […]
When retraining and recovering from Musician’s Focal Dystonia, I could simply advise you to be patient, but this doesn’t really tell you anything. Retraining requires more than just patience, because when you’re being patient it means that you are waiting for the outcome. You think about the outcome, want the outcome, you just choose to […]
Musician’s Focal Dystonia is a learned condition. It’s not like a flu which you can catch when someone is sneezing at you. It’s not like an accident, which comes out of the blue and breaks you. It’s not something which attacks you when you’re looking in the other direction. It’s a state of body and […]
When I was afflicted with task specific focal dystonia back in 2010, I had no idea what was going on. I was not diagnosed, although I visited several doctors, and I’m grateful for that now. I was left alone to work and experiment on my own, and managed to solve my problem in 4 years. […]