Good News Bad News

To anyone who want to retrain to resolve Musicians Focal Dystonia.

I have a very bad news and a very good news for you.

The BAD news is that you'll never be playing the same way as you did before the onset. The GOOD news is that the new way of playing, your version 2.0, will be much better than the old way.

As Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results", you can't try to play like you did before the onset and expect different result other than the state of focal dystonia you are in.

I've struggled years with this and this was the hardest pill for me swallow, but once swallowed, everything became much easier!

The fact, no matter how brutal it seems, is.... what and how you've done things before lead to you having focal dystonia.

In other words, now the 'system' that you have stored cumulative data on 'how you've always done things', is contaminated with focal dystonia. You don't want to be using that system any longer if you want to be achieving different results... at least for now.

The word "recovery" is very misleading in that sense as well. We do not want to go back to where we started, which will take us right back to focal dystonia. This is precisely why some folks get focal dystonia again after seemingly successful recovery or brain surgery.

So... do what ever you can to practice your instrument without using your old system that's contaminated with focal dystonia, especially in the very beginning stages of your recovery. As long as you are not experiencing dystonic reaction, you are not using that contaminated system. Try to see if you can expand on that zone as much as you can.

The is surely a big mindset change and challenge but it's all about the small micro decisions that we make during the sessions that will reinforce the new habit which will then make your future sessions easier, which will then lead you to successful "recovery".