A Muscle Disorder that Affects 1 in 200 Musicians
Focal dystonia is mysterious, incurable, and more common than you might think
The betrayals were minor at first. But little by little, Ryan Thomson's bow seemed to develop a mind of its own. Eventually, the accomplished New Hampshire fiddler and music teacher found he was unable to play certain pieces of music. "I had the bow rehaired," Thomson recalls. "Then I thought maybe it was warped."
Before long, Thomson realized that his bow was fine—it was his body that wasn't cooperating. When he tried fiddle tunes that require a lot of back-and-forth bowing and high-speed timing, the muscles in his back that stabilized the shoulder of his bow arm simply wouldn't do their job.
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