For Physicians
Occupational diseases of musicians are conditioned by the specific circumstances of professional music making. Find here more information if you plan to refer a patient to the Berlin Center of Musicians Medicine at Charité.
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Medical Coordination
The medical coordination of the Berlin Center for Musicians Medicine will serve to provide patients as well as physicians (referring physicians) with further information and to coordinate the referral to the responsible expert.
After a first consultation with the medical director of the BCMM, referring physicians receive a doctor's letter on the preliminary diagnosis and the planned further diagnostics and therapy. After completing the diagnosis and treatment with the respective experts of the network, referring physicians receive a detailed final assessment.
Musician Medical Diseases
Occupational diseases of musicians are conditioned by the specific circumstances of professional music making. More than 80% of the approx. 120,000 professional musicians currently active in Germany (instrumentalists in the orchestra, singers, teachers outside the general education schools, freelance musicians, music students) develop at least one activity-related medical problem that impairs their musical performance. Women in the third and fourth decade of life and high string instrumentalists are particularly often affected by musician illnesses.
Numerous factors contribute to the development of occupational diseases in musicians. These include the decades-long chronic repetition of highly complex movement patterns on the instrument with the constant necessity of a technical and artistic high performance level, the physically burdensome construction and play of the instruments (e.g. high string instruments), the stressful working environment just in the orchestra pit with e.g. unsuitable chairs, spatial tightness, poor lighting and harmful levels of loudness and mental stress due to a competitive pressure especially in the orchestra.
The spectrum of occupational music diseases is extremely wide and includes numerous medical specialties.