Musician's dystonia in a percussionist - clinical video analysis and botulinum toxin intervention: a case report

Musician's focal hand dystonia is a painless task-specific focal dystonia, which presents with involuntary movements, abnormal postures, and loss of fine motor dexterity. We report here the case of a 63-year-old male, percussionist, with african ethnicity, with musician's focal hand dystonia who was treated with botulinum toxin, and describe the results at 4-weeks follow up.

Clinical examination and video analysis revealed abnormal flexion of the 3rd finger, followed by flexion of the 4th and 5th fingers while playing the congas. Based on these findings, a diagnosis of musician's focal hand dystonia was established. Ten units of botulinum toxin were injected into the muscle fibres of the flexor digitorum superficialis corresponding to the 4th finger using electromyography and ultrasound guidance. Four weeks later, the patient reported a subjective 60% improvement in his performance. He emphasized the effect of botulinum toxin on performance speed and tension over the forearm and hand.

Botulinum toxin is not a definitive treatment for musician's focal hand dystonia, but it may potentiate other definitive rehabilitation techniques. More research is needed to determine the long-term effects of botulinum toxin on function enhancement in musician's focal hand dystonia.