Musician's Focal Dystonia Recovery Pitfalls: "It's Not Getting Better"

One of the most common pitfalls I come across in working with people with dystonia (which I also dealt with myself!) is the persistent sense that nothing is improving, despite solid evidence to the contrary. Why do some of us fall into this trap, and what can we do to change our perspective?
How I Recovered from MFD: • How String Players Can...
Route A and Route B: • Principles for Musicia...
‪@norakrohn‬
‪@tillproject‬
www.norakrohn.com
www.tillproject.com

[@edgarnyembwa4717]

Thanks! Let's not give up!

[@Dotarabhav]

Nora, thank you so much for making these videos!
You mentioned your typing recovered before your viola playing. Do you find this to be the case with most of your clients? And would you be able to share any tips for recovering typing capabilities?

[@norakrohn]

My pleasure, I'm glad they're helpful! I actually didn't have issues with typing, but many people I work with do. The approach to typing that I use comes out of the Taubman approach for piano, and they actually have a whole program for typing: www.healthytyping.com. But some starting tips: 1. make sure the keyboard is not too close or far away and at a height where your hands can rest uncurled on the keys with a roughly 90-degree bend at your elbow, 2. make sure that the wrists are aligned and not breaking in an up/down or sideways direction, 3. Walk "forward" onto each key from the forearm, with the entire finger/hand/forearm unit rather than freezing the arms/hands in space and using isolated the finger movements, 4. Let go, move the finger/hand/forearm unit, and repeat for the next key. Hope this helps a little!

[@Dotarabhav]

@@norakrohn Thanks, Nora!