Tribute to the Flute: A Literature Review of Playing-Related Problems in Flautists

Silvia Winkler,1,2 Anne Lohs,2 Zahavah M Zinn-Kirchner,1,2 Moonef Alotaibi,2,3 Philipp P Caffier1,2 1Berlin Center for Musicians Medicine (BCMM), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, D-10117, Germany; 2Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, D-10117, Germany; 3King Fahad Medical City, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Philipp P Caffier, Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Berlin Center for Musicians Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, Berlin, D-10117, Germany, Tel +4930 450 655 097, Fax +4930 450 555 931, Email philipp.caffier@charite.deAbstract: Playing musical instruments places unusually high demands on specific parts of the human body. Relative to the instruments they play, musicians may experience instrument-related symptoms, as recorded in flute players. The objective was to provide an overview of the study findings addressing medical problems in flautists to better understand their complaints and pave the way for more personalized healthcare. Several electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library) were systematically searched in July 2022. Furthermore, the references of all included articles were reviewed for additionally relevant sources. The resulting set of studies was summarized in a table, with quality assessment according to the SIGN grading system. From an initial 433 hits, the search yielded 95 studies with a total of 32,600 musicians, including at least 2134 flautists. Among the latter, evidence was found for musculoskeletal, neurological, dermatological, temporomandibular, and hearing complaints, overuse and reflux symptoms, velopharyngeal insufficiency, as well as upper and lower airway impairment. Other specialists may be consulted equally often and should be sensitive to the particular medical problems in flautists. Future studies would ideally contain specific outcome analyses on an international scale and consider flautists as an individual subgroup within a larger number of total participants.Keywords: flautists health, instrument-associated disease, music pathology, occupational medicine, playing-related injuries, musico-medical care, performing arts medicine