• Rebecca Divarco, Fabian Sternkopf, André Lee, Matthias Karst, Perianen Ramasawmy, Andrea Antal, and Eckart Altenmüller.
• Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany.
• Eur J Pain. 2024 Oct 11.

BackgroundExtensive audio-motor training and psychological stress can cause professional musicians acute overstrain-injury and chronic pain, resulting in damaged careers and diminished quality of life. It has also been previously shown that musicians might perceive pain differently than non-musicians. Therefore, the aim of our study was to quantify differences between musicians and non-musicians regarding their subjective responses to painful contact heat stimuli and assess how emotional traits might influence these responses.MethodsUpon completing the StateTrait-Anxiety-Depression Inventory, 15 healthy musicians and 15 healthy non-musicians from German universities received 15 noxious contact heat stimuli at the dorsal side of each hand and foot. After each stimulation, participants were asked to provide a pain rating from 0 to 10.ResultsMusicians not only reported significantly higher pain ratings after the first stimulation but also showed a significantly higher degree of habituation compared to non-musicians. Additionally, musicians showed a significantly less pronounced difference regarding the pain rating of the hands compared to the feet than non-musicians. Trait anxiety and trait depression scores had no effect on the pain rating or the habituation.ConclusionThe more pronounced habituation of musicians might hint at a neuroplastic nociceptive alteration in musicians. The lack of significance between the psychological traits and their effect on the pain ratings is surprising but could be a result of both participant groups having stressful careers.SignificanceThe findings of this report justify musicians' repetitive sensorimotor training as an important model for plasticity and contribute to a better understanding of pain perception in musicians.© 2024 The Author(s). European Journal of Pain published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Pain Federation ‐ EFIC ®.

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