REBELLION OF THE BODY.

Understanding musician’s focal dystonia

REBELLION OF THE BODY.

Understanding musician’s focal dystonia

Joaquín Farias Ph. D.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any
form or by any means, without permission of the publisher

Cover: Manuel Pastor Morillo Espina

based on "House of cards" by Francesco Clemente

ISBN-13: 978-84-611-2814-3
ISBN-10: 84-611-2814-1
Dep Leg SE-4292-06

© Joaquín Farias Martínez

To Marianne Lyong Chung Blok
for having taught me
that the most complex principles
can only be explained
in the simplest way
This book addresses the personal and educational
dimension of focal dystonia; the opinions and
reflections of the author are limited to his
experience in recovery from Musician’s Focal
Dystonia.
At no point is any attempt made to generalise on
approaches to more severe disorders such as
generalised dystonia.
PROLOGUE

This is a book of questions to which you must

find answers.
This is a book of answers to which you must pose
questions.
Do not look for a detailed and rigid method to
follow in this book. There is no set procedure;
you must devise your own system in order for it
to be effective.
Here you will find many ideas, suggestions and
recommendations which may guide and motivate
you, but your creative involvement is essential.
WHAT IS DYS TONIA? *

Dystonia is both the symptom and the name of a

group of illnesses, specifically referred to as
dystonias. The symptom or physical
manifestation consists of sustained
involuntary muscle contractions in one or
more parts of the body. The disorder is
secondary to a malfunction of the central
nervous system, probably in the area of the
brain known as the basal ganglia. Musician’s
focal dystonia consists of a muscle
contraction in the hand and/or forearm,
during the act of performing music. The hand
can contract so strongly that it cannot move.
As soon as the instrument is put down, it
relaxes.

*Based on the definition provided by the Dystonia Medical Research

Foundation
THE FIGHT

The battle against oneself can only be won when the

weapons are laid down
THE TREE AND THE WIND

In the time when man was yet to walk upon the

earth, the world was ruled by the spirit of the
wind.
The spirit of the wind travelled through its lands
and rejoiced in its possessions.
Its favourite game was to blow strongly and force
the trees to bend before it.
One day it noticed that one small tree was not
bending, but remained erect.
How dare it – it thought, and blew more strongly.
The stronger it blew, the straighter the tree
remained. Meanwhile, all the others snapped,
one by one.
The spirit of the wind flew into a rage and blew
with all its might.
Its breath made the grains of sand fly like birds
and the birds drop to the ground like stones; the
water in the rivers turned into rain and the trees
were separated from the land.
The small tree stood its ground.
The spirit of the wind contemplated what it had
done and how it had destroyed everything it
loved. Shaken, it stopped blowing.
At that moment, the small tree bent slowly before
it.
DESERTS AND DISCOVERIES

Failure is the key to success, each mistake

teaches us something
Morihei Ueshiba. The art of peace
BELIEF S
I believed that learning was like climbing a hill

I discovered that it is more like crossing a

mountain range.

I believed that the shortest distance between two

points was a straight line

I discovered that, on occasions, the quickest way

of arriving is by making a large detour.
I believed that in order to progress it was
necessary to move forward

I discovered that it is possible to move forward by

turning back

On occasions, it is not possible to win without

first having lost.
AIRPORT. A true story
Oriol was 28 years old when he left his job as an
office clerk to devote himself to what he truly
enjoyed: playing the flamenco guitar.
After a long struggle, when he began working
regularly, he found himself suffering from focal
dystonia.
The first time we met we spent six hours talking
and trying out movements on the guitar.
He listened to me in astonishment as up until then
he had thought that it was a physical problem. In
the same way as when a part of a mechanism
breaks and must be replaced by another. He was
disconcerted by the idea that he, in some way,
was actively creating his lack of control.
That night he caught a taxi and went to the airport
to return home.
He had four hours to wait, and so decided to play
a little.
He began to play and was surprised to see that not
only did he suffer no symptoms of focal dystonia,
but that his skill had improved. He was playing
arpeggios, tremolos and fast scales like never
before. Meanwhile, travellers passed him by,
unaware of that small miracle...............
OPPORTUNITY. A true story.
José was 23 years old and devoted all his time to
the flamenco guitar.
He spent the whole day playing. From morning
until night he practiced scales, arpeggios and
tremolos.
He put so much effort into it that he was able to
play faster and faster, stronger and stronger.
His whole life was focused on achieving one
goal, to become a concert guitarist. To achieve
this he would need to win first prize in several
performance competitions.
The opportunity arose sooner than he expected
and within less than a year he was a finalist in
two major contests.
To his surprise he managed to qualify for the final
of a competition which had been won only by
guitar maestros he admired.
On the day of the final concert, with everything at
stake, he took to the stage and began to play.
His hands became those of a novice; incapable of
controlling their movements, he barely managed
to finish his main piece.

(Two months later he was diagnosed with focal dystonia

which affected the middle finger on his right hand)
OBSESSION

In a faraway place, in the time when kingdoms

were created by the force of the sword, one life
had this singular destiny.
The emperor ordered that the most beautiful
woman on earth be sought so that he could marry
her.
Thousands of women were presented before him.
Each and every one of them was turned away.
After a long time and when they had all lost hope
of finding anyone worthy of their lord, one of the
envoys appeared with a young woman whom he
had encountered in the distant desert regions of
the west. Her beauty was so perfect that the
emperor decided to make her his wife.
One night, gazing at the naked body of his
companion as she lay sleeping, he noticed a tiny
mole on her hip. That image stayed with him from
then on and whenever he looked at her he could
only see that imperfection.
Seized by madness, he sought advice from his
royal doctors. They prepared an ointment which
would erase the blemish for ever.
The treatment was successful. The following
night the emperor was able to gaze at the perfect
beauty of his beloved for the last time, as she lay
lifeless beside him.
KNOWL EDG E A true story.

Pablo v. was 24 years old. Three years earlier he

had taken the decision to give up everything and
totally devote himself to the guitar. He left home
and travelled to the capital to undertake his
musical studies. One day, he sensed that he was
not capable of adequately controlling his
performance in a simple passage of scales. He
noticed some slight, almost imperceptible,
rhythmic imbalances, which were impossible to
control.
Obsessed by his lack of precision, he tried to fight
it and force his fingers to obey his orders. The
lack of control increased day by day, his efforts to
control his movement proving fruitless.
Confronted with the perplexity of his friends and
teachers, who could not understand how his
ability to play had deserted him overnight, he
decided to look for some answers.

After seeking advice from several doctors, he

ended up in the consulting room of a neurologist.
‘What’s the problem?’ asked the neurologist
‘I’ve lost complete control of my ring finger.’
‘You’re suffering from a rare illness, called focal
dystonia.’ he said
‘Is it serious?’
‘You should know that there is no cure for this
illness....’

Pablo never played the guitar again.

DIFFER ENC E S
Being blind is not the same as not being able to
see
INNOCENC E. A true story.

I met Robert by chance. He was 52 years old. He

had been a renowned jazz guitarist in his youth,
thanks to his musical virtuosity and his personal
style.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’m having
trouble playing, it must be arthritis.’
When he played for me, it was clear that he was
suffering from focal dystonia which was affecting
the ring finger on his right hand.
I decided that we would not give a name to what
was happening to him and that we would work
without rules in search of a solution.
His progress was extraordinarily swift................
PERFE CTION. A true story

When I met John he was 50 years old. He struck

me as a very intelligent and mature man.
‘What’s the problem?’ I asked
‘I’ve been a flute soloist for twenty years and
have not been able to play for the last six, not
even the simplest passages. My fingers don’t
respond.’
After talking for a few hours, I asked:
‘When you were a soloist did you commit any
errors in your performance, did you miss any
notes?’
‘No.’ he replied. ‘In fact, from a certain point in
my life I didn’t practice out of enjoyment, but to
make sure that I would not fail.’
‘So fail now, then, make a mistake on purpose,
imitate a novice with no talent.’

John picked up his flute and performed some

extremely difficult passages taken from orchestral
solos without making one single
mistake.....................................
 "Any technique, however worthy and desirable,
becomes a disease when the mind is obsessed with it".
Bruce Lee The art of Jeet Kune Do
 INVISIBLE BARRIERS

The blind man in the labyrinth

The blind man lived in the labyrinth and thought that
his prison had no doors
The blind man slept opposite the open door
of his cell
frozen with the fear of making a mistake"
CHANGE

One has to admit that something has changed and

that one has to move forward in order to reach the
starting point.

It is not possible to overcome focal dystonia

without experiencing a profound change in the
way we act and in the image we have of
ourselves.

Recovery is dependent upon a maturing process;

it is necessary to understand change as an
opportunity for improvement.
EXPECTATIONS. A true story

Miguel was an exceptional clarinettist. He studied

at the finest schools in Europe and, as everyone
anticipated, he obtained a post as a soloist in a
major orchestra.
Shortly after commencing work, he began to
experience the first symptoms of his focal
dystonia. It affected the movement of the fingers
on his right hand.
Following his diagnosis he visited the best
doctors in Europe, until they finally advised him
to give up the clarinet, and to start again in
another profession.
This he did; he gave it all up and returned home.
When he was introduced to me he had not played
a single note for two years on the instrument in
which he had become a virtuoso.
After much reluctance, he was persuaded that he
had to play again.
He made a very swift recovery and in less than a
year had already returned to his post as a soloist
in the orchestra.
Two years later I met him again and asked him
how he was.
‘I’ve solved the problem with my fingers almost
completely; I haven’t made a single mistake in
concert since I started work.
VERTIGO. A true story

‘When I wake up in the morning I feel dizzy.’

‘Dizzy?’
‘Yes, I start thinking about everything that has to
work just so that I can open my eyes...... so that
my heart will keep beating... Any simple
movement requires such complex coordination,
which at the same time is so familiar, that it
seems that everything should always continue
like this, that this order cannot be broken.......’

Joris was 25 years old and played the electric guitar as a

hobby. He was diagnosed with focal dystonia which
affected the middle finger on his left hand, not long after
the death of his father.
 THE MADMAN

The madman would try to catch

fish with his hands.
The sane ones would laugh
and could not understand
why
he would not give up.
One night when no one could see him
the great fish was his
A QUESTION
It all happened long ago in one of the towns in
the valley of the seven regions. It was a quiet
town in which the inhabitants led well-ordered
and prosperous lives as they went about their
business.
One night, and for no apparent reason, a dog
began to howl and continued to do so the
following day and not one moment passed in
which this howling ceased to resound throughout
the streets of this old town. The following night,
another dog began to behave in the same way
and, one by one, all the dogs in the seven towns
of the seven regions began to join in with this
daily, disturbing din which could be heard for
several miles around.
The inhabitants of the town began to suffer from
the effects of this situation, as they could not get
to sleep at night and would wander through the
streets tired and irritated.

The governor of the valley summoned the heads

of the seven towns and asked them for advice.
During the meeting one of
the heads remarked: "I can’t understand why this
is happening, the dogs have never behaved like
this, they have always been obedient to their
masters and now they refuse to obey".
The governor gave them permission to do
whatever they thought necessary in order to solve
the problem.
Strongly convinced that it should be resolved as
soon as possible, they took the decision to return
to their people and slaughter all the dogs in the
towns at dawn on the following day.
That night the head of the first town had a dream
and woke up with a start. He addressed his
people and ordered them to evacuate the town in
haste and told all of the inhabitants to head for
the mountains, accompanied only by their
animals.

The following day in the other six regions, the

dogs were slaughtered one by one. The residents
then fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from so
many sleepless nights.
A few minutes later, torrential rain began to fall,
flooding all the houses and drowning the weary
residents before they could awake.
The inhabitants of the seventh region could see
the flood in the valley from the mountains. When
it had all passed, they gazed in astonishment as
their dogs barked no more.

I wonder whether musician’s focal dystonia could

be some kind of protective response which is
generated to prevent more serious harm
WHY?

Why do we say that a problem has no solution

just because we do not know what it is?

Why are we afraid to experiment when we do not

know how far we can go?

Why do we search outside ourselves for answers

that only we possess?

Why have we been brought up to push ourselves

rather than understand ourselves?
 MIRRORS

Men who could not see themselves would seek

their images in mirrors.
Their reflections communicated with them and stirred
sleeping memories.
When the image in the mirror closed its eyes
the men would remember
all the things that at one time
they wished not to see.
When the image in the mirror clenched its fist
the men would remember everything that they
would rather not have done.
One day the image in the mirror cried and the men
remembered why
they had forgotten everything.
A LANGUAGE

Dystonia is a language through which the body

communicates with us.
A gesture made years earlier and since forgotten
may be repeated or imitated without realising it
and then preserved as a residue of the past.
In the dystonic gesture, our physical and sensory
past experiences can be read, and its aim is to set
the parameters of our future coordination.
THE SECR ET

Jacinto was a highly-regarded faith healer and

every day would attend to some 300 people, who
would come to his hut ill and return to their
homes healthy.
One day, a man came to him and asked:
‘Tell us, how it is possible that you can cure
certain incurable illnesses? Tell us what you do.
What is your secret?’
‘I don’t do anything, and that’s why I’m
successful.’ replied Jacinto.
INNER DIVISION. A true story

Francisco was 34 years old. Up until then he had

been enjoying a promising career as a
percussionist.
He began suffering from focal dystonia during the
months after his father’s death.
When he tried to play, his right hand seemed to
have a life of its own and would assume positions
which were not suitable for performing.
His fingers would stretch out as if driven by some
logic he knew nothing of.
He gave up concerts completely and we devoted
all our efforts to finding a procedure to restore his
control over his own hands.
After a year of searching, we discovered a
key.......
He recognised his inner division.
The procedure was disconcerting but effective;
when he sat before his instrument he said to
himself:
‘My body can do what it likes, I won’t do
anything.’

Before our astonished eyes his movements

regained their fluency.

When he said to himself

‘I’m going to play’
He would instantly lose his ability to move in a
coordinated way............................
CONTROL

You do not need to develop what you have

already developed in the past, but to recover what
you have left behind. The control has been with
us all the time and has not been lost; it has merely
been temporarily distorted.

When we perform, a multitude of motor gestures

are carried out automatically, following a
sequence predetermined by the repetition in the
learning process.
Control over the execution is not based on action,
but on not acting so as not to interfere with the
automatic coordination of the acquired motor
reflexes.
In order to succeed in restoring free movement
one does not need to do anything.

In order to continue the pattern of lack of control

one needs to make an effort.

Excessive control leads to lack of control.

A DREAM. A true story

David was 28 years old. Two years earlier, when

all of his efforts were devoted to his work as a
guitar teacher, he had been diagnosed with an
unusual form of focal dystonia which affected his
middle fingers on both hands.
This meant that when he played, although now a
professional, he appeared to have less skill than a
beginner.
After much effort and personal research he had
gradually begun to recover some of his abilities.
One day he dreamed he could control his hands
once more. His fingers moved with the same ease
as a few years before; he could play those
impossible pieces on the guitar.
He awoke and with this sensation still fresh in his
mind, he opened his case and took out his guitar.
To his surprise he began to play freely .....
After a while spent enjoying his restored freedom
he became afraid of losing it, stopped playing,
opened the case and put his guitar away.
THE ART OF REMEMBERING

We look for the memory of free movement which

will produce, on evoking it, the desired
movement.

Every act carried out produces a memory; it is not

possible to repeat an act without remembering it.
The action generates memories and the memory
enables the acts.

Focal dystonia resides in the memory pattern

prior to the action.

Learning and forgetting are two related processes;

one is not possible without the other. Learning is
necessary in order to forget and, on many
occasions, forgetting in order to learn.
PRINCIPLE S OF THE METHOD

"We are not clumsy and heavy matter, but a model

which builds itself and renews itself constantly."
Norbert Wiener
THE METHOD

Fundamental principles

Here and now you can move freely.

Focal dystonia does not obstruct free and

coordinated movement.

By following the right procedure, it is possible to

succeed in recovering mobility, as enjoyed prior
to the dystonia, within minutes or hours.
Stabilising this restored control over the action
takes months or years.

The musician suffering from focal dystonia must

coordinate his action by using new procedures.
Thinking about gradual recovery, with
stereotyped training and specific timings, is far
from the real experience.

The same process which enables us to acquire

skills through practice can cause us to lose the
skills we have developed in the past.

Reeducation does not consist of learning how to

do something new, but of succeeding in
stabilising a physical and mental state that allows
the body to do what it already knows how to do.

Action

Action is our relationship with everything.

The method consists of balancing the scales of

the acts; every incorrect act creates a memory and
strengthens the conditioning for rejecting the
undesired action.
Every correct and desired act creates a memory
and fortifies the positive conditioning towards the
action.

Imagination

If you cannot imagine yourself moving freely,

then you cannot move freely.

Coordination
The dystonic reaction needs to be inhibited by an
indirect control system which solicits the
automatic control system. It solicits and does not
act directly.
It is essential to free the body from the continual
interferences of will in its attempt to consciously
control gestures and movements which must be
performed automatically.

Attitude
It is fundamental not to attach oneself to the
memories of what we did and how we did it.
We must focus on what we are doing and how we
are doing it.

Perception
Every action generates a sensation. If you modify
the action, you modify the sensation.
On the other hand, if you process the sensations
differently, the action will be modified.
It is necessary to integrate the stimuli in a
different way in order to obtain optimum
psychomotor coordination.
During the musical performance, a multitude of
motor gestures are carried out automatically,
following a sequence predetermined by repetition
in study. At the point of execution, our role is not
to act consciously but to observe, without acting,
in order not to interfere in the automatic
coordination of the motor reflexes acquired.
An involuntary movement is not the same as an
unwitting movement.

We are observers; action is a consequence of

perception.

Blockages

You cannot progress because you are blocking the

action in many ways.

You can only achieve what you allow yourself to
achieve.

An injury is a blockage which questions the

principles of our practice. The way towards
resolving this issue consists of turning back and
taking paths which we refused to travel in the
past.

Training
All aspects of the action which are not essential
and necessary must be eliminated.

It is necessary to train the mind in new ways of

thinking and the body in new ways of acting. This
requires practice, spirit and developing a suitable
perception.
Training develops the inhibition capacity
necessary for balancing the work performed by
the agonist and antagonist muscles. This demands
emotional control and mental concentration.
Kinaesthetic perception must be developed in
such a way that the body feels uncomfortable
unless it executes each movement with the
minimum of effort.

Understanding
Recovery from musician’s focal dystonia should
not be considered as a struggle against ourselves,
but as a process of self-understanding and respect
for the reactions of our body, the function and
cause of which we do not know.
Negotiation with the body must be established in
the language of the body, the sensations, in order
to understand the sensation experienced,
remembered and recreated.

Reeducation must be aimed at solving the

question of what is the sense of the gesture, rather
than at preventing it from occurring.
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL BASES
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL BASES
Coordination of muscle activity
The musician’s training consists of psychological
and physiological conditioning, which prepares
him to react and act accordingly at each moment
of the performance.
An efficient performance is essentially related to
the ability to coordinate muscle activity in an
appropriate way.
All movement involves synchronised work of
both the agonist muscles (which perform the
action), and the antagonist muscles (which
oppose the action of the agonist muscles).
The antagonist muscles control and moderate the
movement produced by the agonist muscles, so
that they do not exceed the physiological limits of
the joints, causing injuries in the structures
forming the locomotor apparatus.
They must slow the movement down in its
terminal phase, intervening only at the right
moment; if they intervene too late, injuries will
occur and if they do it too early they will obstruct
the movement.

In the case of musicians suffering from focal

dystonia, a change in the principle of reciprocal
innervation1, known as co-contraction, is
observed. The phenomenon of co-contraction
consists in that during the execution of a
movement both the agonist and antagonist
muscles contract simultaneously.

1
Sherrington’s law of reciprocal innervation: "When a muscle
contracts, its opposing muscle relaxes"
Creation of motor patterns
The Nervous System must learn a specific gesture
in order to be able to modulate and coordinate it
appropriately during execution.

Furthermore, it must be capable of regulating

itself, and therefore, between the Central Nervous
System and the arm-forearm-

hand-fingers structure a control of reciprocal

exchange of appropriate information must be
established to arrive at the most effective gesture
by means of the following approaches.
When we repeat technical gestures with care, the
Central Nervous System tries to reach the right
gesture through attempts which get nearer to the
actual requirements.
As the subject repeats the gesture, it becomes
more and more fluent and continuous; the Central
Nervous System has managed to eliminate the
unnecessary contractions and performs those
necessary at specific times.

At this point it can be said that the Central

Nervous System has created the correct motor
pattern for the gesture.

This pattern is formed by means of an interaction

between the Central Nervous System and the
neuromuscular periphery. Whilst the Central
Nervous System sends the signals to begin and
execute the movement, the periphery sends to the
Central Nervous System the signals required to
check whether the movement is correct.
The peripheral signals are sent to the Central
Nervous System through receptors capable of
informing it about the state of muscle tension and
the contraction speed of the agonist and
antagonist muscles.

It informs the Central Nervous System of the

position of the various segments, their speed of
movement and the muscle tension applied.

This information is supplied by the Golgi tendon

organs located in series with the muscle, at the
junction of muscles and tendons, and through the
neuromuscular spindles, located in parallel with
the muscle belly.
The first have a greater excitability threshold and
less sensitivity, and therefore perform the role of
ensuring the safety of the apparatus in relation to
excessively high tension stimuli.
The second, with higher sensitivity and greater
nerve terminations, perform the role of informing
the Central Nervous System of the faster or
slower variations in muscle length, on the speed
of muscle contraction.

The motor pattern is acquired in the following

way. The Central Nervous System, on the basis of
previous experiences, outlines an initial motor
pattern as near as possible to the actual motor
requirements; it imagines the approximate
movement. It performs it and checks it by
obtaining from the neuromuscular periphery the
information it needs (motor sensations 2).
2
Proprioceptive sensation. Sensations relating to the movements of

the body and to the position based on the stimuli received by

specialised sensory organs, situated in the muscles, tendons, joints and

inner ear. Mosby`s medical, nursing, and allied health dictionary.

Ediciones harcourt España. 2000

In this way the gesture is checked as to whether it
is correct. On the basis of this information it
modifies the previous motor pattern, performs it,
checks it and so on until the correct motor pattern
has been formed.

The Central Nervous System also processes

information originating from the other organs
designed for this role (eye, skin, ear),
also incorporating this information when creating
the pattern3.
3
Motor pattern. In the work of R.A Schmidt. Each pattern is composed
of two parts:
The memory pattern is responsible for fully controlling a rapid movement,
even if the environment feedback may subsequently indicate errors.
The recognition pattern is responsible for evaluating the feedback
produced by the response, which enables information to be generated on
errors relating to the movement. Consequently, it seems to combine
feedback on the speed and identification procedures which can operate
even after a movement has been completed, in order to tune the pattern
better for its subsequent activation.
From then on the Central Nervous System carries
out the gesture without passing through that part
of the Central Nervous System responsible for
voluntary commands, but just to initiate it and
control it.

Consequently, the voluntary gesture, through

continuous repetition, becomes automatic4.

4
Automatism. Automatism can be defined as a state in which the

individual performs simple, or complicated, actions expertly or in a way

which is relatively lacking in coordination, without being totally conscious

of what he is doing. This definition excludes purely motor reflex

responses, but includes well-developed faculties, such as playing a musical

instrument, in which the individual carries out very complicated

movements, without a clear consciousness of what he is doing. This kind

of normal automatism increases with practice, and the more expert the

artist, the greater the degree of automatism displayed. The Oxford

Companion to the mind. Oxford University Press, 1987.

ILLUSTRATIONS
1.Bamboo and Plum with Two Birds. Age: 19th - 20th cen.

2.Taisho Bijin by unknown

3.Priest under willow by unknown

4.Koi by shokan. Taisho- Showa period

5.Waterfall by Kumagai, Naohik Meiji-taisho period

6. Enso by Tenko

Galene Editions acknowledge and thanks Mr.

Robyn Buntin of Honolulu for his kindness in
giving permission to reproduce this illustrations
and photographs.
REFER EN C E S
Aucouturier, B. y Lapierre, A. “La educación psicomotriz como
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Byl-N; Wilson-F; Merzenich-M; Melnick-M; Scott-P;

Oakes-A; McKenzie-A .”Sensory dysfunction associated with
repetitive strain injuries of tendinitis and focal hand dystonia: a
comparative study”. J-Orthop-Sports-Phys-Ther. 1996 Apr; 23(4):
234-44.

Chamagne P. "Functional dystonia in musicians:

Rehabilitation.". Hand Clin. May;19(2):309-16. 2003

Chamagne P. "Functional dystonia in musicians: fundamental

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THE AUTHOR
Joaquin Farias is a specialist in coaching
proffesional musicians, guiding them in the
process of overcoming focal dystonia and being
able to play on stage again.
He became recognized after several top-notch
musicians experienced groundbreaking recovery
as a result of his techniques.

He holds a Ph.D. in Biomechanics and a Master’s

Degree in Ergonomics and Psychosociology.
As a musician he was trained in Granada, Madrid,
Utrecht and Oxford. He graduated in Piano, Flute,
Chamber Music, Singing and Music Theory.

Dr. Farias is currently professor of Ergonomics at

the Barenboim-Said Foundation Academy of
music and researcher at the Kinesiology Unit of
the Faculty of Medicine of Valencia.

Further information on the author is available at:

www.focaldystonia.net