Musicians with Dystonia Bulletin Board

1. index finger of picking hand would curl tightly into my palm when finger picking or trying to hold a pick...typing, buttoning shirts, picking up small objects etc. most here would call it the dystonic finger (the most obvious symptom)

2. all of my other fingers on the picking hand would flare out in a weird slightly curved sort of way when trying to use the index for any task. also my thumb, same hand, would bend in towards the pinky while the first joint near the tip would bend backwards (i'm double jointed there). most here call those the compensating fingers. personally, i just look at the whole thing as one dystonic mess all connected and related but i guess that's a whole other possible point of contention.

3. and here's the really weird one. the index in my fingering hand would not press down on the frets. especially for chords like D and C G7 in open position etc.

4. the scariest one was that all of the muscle memory of how to do things properly was lost. i simply couldn't remember the comfortable feeling i used to have. the guitar i had been playing most of my life became almost completely foreign to me.

5. actually this it the first symptom to kick in. about 2 years before i lost the ability to use my index, i had writer's cramp to where i had to hold my pen with other fingers. didn't worry too much about it though because my life revolved around music and not holding a pen.

now what i've done so far to correct the problem: most of it stated in other posts btw.

1. for the index (main dystonic finger) i created exercises to slowly recover the ability to smoothly move it into the palm without the dystonic reflex as i like to call it kicking in. instead of pulling it in and just having it fly tightly into the palm, i brought it in slowly between 2 distances slowly passing between evenly with typing, remote controls, etc. once i gained some of that control back i was finally able to take it to the guitar.

2. on the guitar, i would curl the compensatories into the palm of my hand while picking a string on the guitar with my index and immediately flaring it straight out instead of letting it curl in. it was a real fight to do all of this. i based many exercises on accentuating all of the opposite things from what dystonia wanted to do.

4. i would pick the strings with the thumb of my picking hand while keeping my other fingers straight because the index in particular would curl in a little every time I used the thumb. once again consciously working against or "fighting" the dystonic movement.

5. for the picking index finger, i would grab a steal string acoustic with high action and fret a note, close my eyes and concentrate on the sensation of holding down that string. all the while trying to get that proper connection like i felt with the healthy fingers. then i would relax, and do it over and over.

6. i did each of these exercises separately in each hand because my problem was partially induced by some kind of left right confusion.

7. when i was finally able to hold a pick again, i practiced curling the compensatory fingers into the palm while strumming. at the same time i had to consciously push the index out which was always trying to curl in while holding the pick. this has been the most frustrating and difficult procedure. i also don't allow my thumb to bend backwards like it used to. i try to keep it straight.

8. for all of these exercises, i concentrated on RELAXING all of those muscles that would tighten that weren't supposed to be. once these would tighten (most noticeably) in the forearm and shoulder, i would stop and try again with relaxed muscles.

i had good days of progress, but many more where i slipped backwards. but on the whole i was always inching forwards even when my frustrations didn't allow me to see it. i tried many other things as well but the above mentioned ones are ones i'm positive have worked for me.

now after reading all of this, i'll leave it up to you to decide if i was "fighting" it or "working against the dystonic movements". also worth mentioning is that i am as of yet not 100%. but i am sooooooo close now. i've come such a long way and i'm actually marveling at how well and fast i can type now. 100% for me is being able to do everything i used to do...which was a lot btw. and i can almost do these things without thinking about it like i used to.

when i am 100% i will keep doing these exercises in an attempt not to fall back to the worst days of dystonia because i don't want to do this twice. it's been a long 4.5 years. if i knew everything i sort of know now, i really think i'd have licked this a couple of years ago.

and....i'm not arguing with anyone here. i'm not saying mine is the way to go. nor am i recommending anyone try it. do so at your own risk i'd say. for the most part most of us are on our own dealing with this as i don't think there is one definite way of going about it. different strokes for different folks i guess. but then again, maybe somebody will see my posts here, relate to them and be helped. others may see the posts by the other generous people here and be helped by their methods. but again, really no point in arguing about it. especially if a person says they're "cured".

then again, i'm probably jumping the gun by writing all of this as i am not 100%. i will be though and when i am, i'll start writing here again and i'll be very thorough about it. (heck, i might even use some capital letters)