[The mucisian's cramp. About the illness of Robert Schumann]. / La crampe du musicien. A propos de la maladie de Robert Schumann.

The musicians are seen in daily neurological practice facing various problems sometimes simple such as skeletal or tendon pain or even compression of a nerve trunk and sometimes more complicated such as focal dystonia. Dystonia often has a dramatic impact on the career of a musician given the complexity of the clinical and therapeutic approach and the results are often disappointing. The history of the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann illustrates this reality; through his story a discussion of both the different pathophysiological hypotheses responsible for focal dystonia, a disorder of brain plasticity, and of the multimodal therapeutic approaches, revisited in the light of neurophysiological findings will be described.

Overuse syndrome in musicians--100 years ago. An historical review.

Overuse syndrome in musicians was extensively reported 100 years ago. The clinical features and results of treatment, which were recorded in considerable detail, match well the condition that is described today. The medical literature that is reviewed here extends from 1830 to 1911 and includes 21 books and 54 articles from the English language literature, apart from two exceptions; however, the writers of the day themselves reviewed French, German and Italian literature on the subject. The disorder was said to result from the overuse of the affected parts. Two theories of aetiology, not necessarily mutually exclusive, were argued. The central theory regarded the lesion as being in the central nervous system, the peripheral theory implied a primary muscle disorder. No serious case was put forward for a psychogenic origin, though emotional factors were believed to aggravate the condition. Advances in musical instrument manufacture--particularly the development of the concert piano and the clarinet--may have played a part in the prevalence of overuse syndrome in musicians. Total rest from the mechanical use of the hand was the only effective treatment recorded.

Neurosis in the workplace.

In the history of medicine new diseases have appeared recurrently, frequently in epidemic form. "New" medical and surgical treatments become fashionable and "diagnosis" becomes a reinterpretation of ambiguous phenomena in accordance with prevailing concerns, often promoted by vested interests. Such an epidemic can be understood in its social context against its background of shared beliefs, social stresses and group demands. False rumours and other exacerbating factors can be identified and eliminated, and measures taken to control them. The management of such epidemics is a public health problem which demands community and institutional support as well as cooperation by the media.