Let's hear your Focal Dystonia stories. A problem shared is a problem halved!!

Ok, I’ll get things started.
I am a freelance trombonist living in North East Lincolnshire, England.
I began to notice that I was over pitching simple notes in the stave. Once aware of this, I worked on remedying it, only to find that I was making things worse. Over a period of about a year, my embouchure muscles got progressively tenser when I tried to play. Eventually, there was so much contraction that the lips were unable to vibrate at all and I was left not being able to produce a single note without very quickly becoming fatigued. Tone and control disappeared completely and my tongue too became cumbersome and awkward. I had no choice but to cancel all my gigs and go and find some help.

Through the British Performing Arts Medical Trust (BAPAM), I attended a consultation with a neurologist who diagnosed me with Focal (or Embouchure) Dystonia. He was only able to give me vague advice on how to ‘manage’ the condition. Things like, “Try chopping and changing mouthpieces” and “Try getting a stand for your instrument to support the weight.” All these things I had already tried with no success.

One day, I typed Focal Dystonia into YouTube and was amazed to find a collection of clips uploaded by a Spanish man showing numerous musicians recovering completely.

I contacted him and subsequently spent a week with him in Madrid.

Prof Joaquin Fabra is a professional trombonist/euphoniumist who, many years ago, suffered severe dystonic symptoms himself long before the condition was given a name. He managed to rehabilitate himself completely and has since spent the last twenty years or so helping other musicians with excellent levels of success – and all without any medication whatsoever.

He maintains that this condition is essentially a behavioral disorder. We have, over time, allowed our focus to slip from ’playing freely’ to ’trying not to play badly’. This then manifests in the physical symptoms we see; symptoms that the medical world is wrongly trying to remedy by experimenting blindly on desperate musicians. Prof Fabra’s approach focuses on de-programming and then re-programming ones psychological and emotional approach to the instrument, focusing on relaxation, curiosity and total acceptance of anything that happens.

Since leaving Madrid three weeks ago, I have seen tremendous improvement in my playing. I no longer dread picking up the trombone and actually look forward to playing - something I’ve not done for eighteen months. I can play notes in the stave with no adverse tension at all. I am now confident that, given time, I will make a full recovery.