Working in Movement

I thought as much! An interesting article from New Scientist magazine, The Strain is in the Brain on the Tadpole Music Studio website of an RSIed musician Thomas Beckner. The information will be familiar to practitioners, but it is interesting that it is coming from the medical community. Basically, the article discusses the idea that some focal dystonias involve learning and faulty sensory cortex mapping. In particular, the work of Nancy Byl and Michael Merzenich are highlighted. Merzenrich's work is a prominent part of the fascinating recent book, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Force Here are a couple of quotes:

 If inappropriate learning patterns cause these abnormalities to form in the brain maps and so lead to dystonia, then conventional therapies-rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, biomechanical coaching, and the injection of botulinum toxin to paralyse recalcitrant muscles-might be missing the point. "The only way to get out of it is by learning your way out of it. Anything else is not dealing with the cause," says Merzenich.

With this in mind, Byl is trying to treat focal dystonia patients using exercises that force them to make ever more delicate sensory discriminations with their fingers. This should, she believes, help them to relearn fine distinctions between neighbouring patches in the sensory cortex map. She blindfolds patients and asks them to identify numbers or letters traced on their fingertips or to play dominoes by feel. [New Scientist]

Yippy-eye-O The Mayo Clinic is studying the yips, a condition affecting the putting ability of golfers. In Yips: More Than a Putting Problem, the condition seems to be a combination of focal dystonia and performance anxiety. Unfortunately, there is not single simple, reliable  solution, or any solution at all for some. And the condition doesn't just affect golfers. Musicians, performers, writers and others can be affected.  

Studies show that when playing the same putts, golfers who have the yips have anxiety levels similar to golfers who don't have the yips. However, those who experience the yips also appear to have faster than average heart rates and increased muscle activity in the wrists. And they tend to grip the putter with greater force. [Mayo Clinic]

Could increasing awareness of that grip help?

Your mother told you so!  An article on the Scientific American website reports on a study of rats that suggests that speed and cocaine impairs the ability to learn from experience: Scientific American: Drug Use Impairs Ability to Learn from Future Experiences. Some of the rats got speed and cocaine, and some saline solution, before they put in challenging new environments. Researchers determined that learning had taken place (or not) by studying the neuronal connections in the rats' brains. The rats on saline had more connections than the druggie rats, who presumably didn't care if they learned or not.