Performing Arts Clinic

The Performing Arts Clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital provides highly specialized evaluation and care for musicians with performance-related injuries and disorders. The Clinic treats approximately four to five new patients and two to three current patients each week - many from outside the Boston area. Most Clinic patients are instrumental musicians with symptoms of pain, numbness, tingling or incoordination of the hands, wrists, shoulders or neck.

The Clinic's Director, Michael E. Charness, MD, a board-certified neurologist and internist who has been treating instrumental musicians for more than 25 years, provides a detailed evaluation and care plan for each patient. Diagnostic evaluations include detailed history, physical examination, observation of performance and regular and specialized electrodiagnostic testing. Treatment plans often include physical and occupational therapy and select botulinium toxin (Botox®) treatment for focal dystonia. The Clinic also collaborates closely with the Hand and Upper Extremity Service, which provides innovative surgical options.

Conditions Treated at the Performing Arts Clinic

The Performing Arts Clinic provides specialized evaluation and care for patients with performance-related injuries and disorders, including:

• Overuse injury (regional pain syndrome)
• Ulnar nerve entrapment - compression of the ulnar nerve, causing numbness in the fingers or pain in the elbow
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Thoracic outlet syndrome - compression of the nerves or blood vessels just below the neck

• Focal dystonia - involuntary muscle spasms and contractions in a specific area of the body

Patient Education for Musicians

• Injury Prevention Tips for Musicians
• Post-Injury Practice Schedule for Musicians
• Tips for Avoiding Ulnar Nerve Entrapment

For Medical Professionals

Video Tutorial: Muscle Examination of the Hand and Upper Extremity - Michael E. Charness, M.D.

Meet the Performing Arts Clinic Director

Michael E. Charness, MD

Director and Founder, Performing Arts Clinic

Dr. Charness is board-certified in both Neurology and Internal Medicine and has been treating instrumental musicians since 1984. A co-founder of the Health Program for Performing Arts at the University of California, San Francisco, he established the Performing Arts Clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1989. A Professor of Neurology and Faculty Associate Dean for Veterans Hospital Programs at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Charness serves on the editorial board of Medical Problems of Performing Artists and has lectured internationally on the subject of performing arts medicine and injury prevention. He presents annual seminars on injury prevention at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. Dr. Charness is a pianist and performs regularly with his wife and family. For more information, visit http://sites.google.com/site/charnessfamilyquintet/.

Research at the Performing Arts Clinic

The Performing Arts Clinic is a center for research on nerve entrapment syndromes and focal dystonia in musicians. Current endeavors include early electrodiagnosis of mild nerve entrapment syndromes, surgical outcomes in ulnar decompression procedures, pathophysiology of focal dystonia, and functional brain imaging of finger movements in musicians with normal, injured and dystonic movements. Functional brain imaging research at the Clinic is supported by a grant from the Milton Foundation.

Support the Performing Arts Clinic

You can help support the mission of the Clinic by filling out this simple online donation form. To ensure that your gift is directed to the Clinic, please select "Other" in the Designation section and then type "Performing Arts Clinic."