Ergebnisse

Classifying and diagnosing patients based on individual characteristics such as severity, phenomenology, sensorimotor and psychological triggering factors was so far impossible. Our findings indicated for example that one subgroup of patients can also be characterized by psychological comorbidities. Interestingly, it was also found that in this subpopulation dystonia was manifested about 10-15 years earlier than patients without any psychological comorbidity. These results among others allow us to better classify patients according to their specific symptoms and design more individualized treatment interventions. For instance affected musicians with additional psychological comorbidities could follow treatments which involve not only the restoration of the motor programs (e.g. retraining) but also specific psychological interventions aiming to reduce emotional impairments (e.g. stress, anxiety) associated to the development of the loss of fine motor control. With respect to the yips phenomenon where the knowledge remains more limited as compared to musician’s dystonia it was found that the prevalence rate, which is much higher than the prevalence of musician’s dystonia, in combination to the existence of yips symptoms in amateur golfers, suggested also that different subtypes according to specific characteristics should be classified. When comparing yips-affected athletes with affected musicians, results indicated that affected golfers could also be subdivided to those with and those without psychological comorbidities. Inspired from the knowledge we do have from musicians (healthy and dystonic) a suggested classification of the yips phenomenon was suggested by differentiating patients who could experience motor disturbances triggered primarily by psychological factors or primarily by sensorimotor triggering factors or finally by both. This detailed description of the different yips subtypes allows better diagnosis and the design of more individualized treatment interventions. As a conclusion the current study provided crucial understandings of both phenomena and the results suggest that further studies exploring the different subtypes of musician with focal dystonia and athletes with yips should be further conducted. Finally, all studies have been conducted in close collaboration in both institutions. It should be emphasized that the cooperation between two different institutions turned out to be highly efficient, inspiring and scientifically fruitful. Finally we published several media interviews via Babett Lobinger and Bernd Gerland and Prof. Eckart Altenmüller, e.g. http://www.spiegel.de/gesundheit/diagnose/yips-beim-golfen-das-zucken-undkrampfen-hindert-beim-putten-a-943840.html

Zusammenfassung

Action induced focal dystonias such as musician’s cramp or golfer’s cramp (yips) are characterized by task specific, mostly painless, involuntary muscle contractions, resulting in uncontrolled movements and abnormal postures (cramps) of a single body part. In Germany, around 80.000 people suffer from focal dystonia. Affected professional musicians and competitive athletes often experience occupational disability. Despite the striking commonalities in amount of training, situational demands, and psychological profiles between musicians and golfers, there has been no interdisciplinary investigation of neurological, psychosocial, or sensorimotor factors influencing focal dystonias. The present transdisciplinary research cooperation between the task force (TF) from the Hannover University of Music and Drama and the German Sport University Cologne aims at integrating and extending the discipline specific knowledge. Moreover, the cooperation focuses on the investigation of the transfer effects of discipline specific treatments for focal dystonias in music and sports. Based on the development of a psychological-, physiological-, and kinematical-based diagnostic tool, we develop, test, and evaluate task-specific interventions.
(DFG- Projektnummer 178011069)