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Blondie#2 -> RE: Focal Dystonia. (May 29 2013 7:28:11)
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People like simple explanations; X causes Y, but life is not always like that.
FD is almost certainly symptomatic - no single cause. The published research already shows several common themes coming up time and time again as a precursor to onset. There's a key paper by British researchers that outlines these plus gives an overview of all the current (at the time) main treatments.
There are plenty of ailments that work like this. Lets take IBS (Irritable bowel syndrome). The gut goes into spasms and falls out of its smooth, regular peristalsis. What cause IBS? well could be diet/food sensitivity, could be a virus
or other gut infection, could be stress, could be several of those, etc.
Richard J gives an account of Nancy Byl's landmark experiment with owl monkeys, showing that FD symptoms could be induced through repetitive clasping motions. No performance anxiety maybe, but stress? Hard to say.
In my own case FD had nothing to do with performance anxiety, it was about burning out a mechanism that was already working well, pushing it too far. I used
to obsess over the classical piece Asturias and spent hours playing the fast PIM sixteenth note triplets in the opening section. At speed I & M must prepare together n the top strings, extend together, plant together. I used to play it endlessly and also started playing tremolo PIMI. Eventually things started to become sluggish, started missing strings, so of course I practiced harder. Kapow, FD. I and M became 'fused', I lost control of M flexion and could't pluck M without I curling tightly into the hand.
However, ignoring mental factors when talking about sensory motor issues is daft. Perception is integral to how we learn and refine movement, part of that is unconscious but a big chunk is conscious. Our preconception of a task will affect how our bodies work to carry out that task. It's how people, can walk on hot coals, its how athletes are trained (mentally preparing for a task properly gives more chance of success) and so on. Plenty of research to support this.
I gave an account on the musicians dystonia board of how my FD started apparently 'spreading' to other tasks, and how I reversed that through essentially a mental approach.
Perfomance anxiety may not be a big factor in one person's onset, but that does not stop it being an issue in that person's recovery - nothing more stressful than knowing your fingers are about to curl uncontrollably when you try and play something.
Complicated business this FD [:)] You just cannot separate mind and body.
Joaquin Farias' e-book, which I've cited before, gives lots of accounts of different cases of FD with different 'causes'. He groups these and outlines his approaches to therapy, considering the case history and conditions that caused onset. He is, as far as I know, the only well known person in FD circles taking this approach.
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