Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders are very common in musicians and, depending on their severity, they could potentially endanger their whole career. Understanding the main risk factors leading to their development or relapse is one of the very first milestone for developing useful assessment tools, treatment guidelines or preventive programmes. Although research and clinical practice have evolved considerably and have increased our ability to manage musicians' injuries, there is still a

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... lack of detailed understanding of risk factors leading to potential injuries. The overall purpose of this work was to increase knowledge of injury risk factors predisposing musicians for developing playing-related musculoskeletal disorders in order to better prevent these injuries. The first study aimed to develop a comprehensive theoretical model about the risk factors for developing injuries related to the instrumental practice while being an orchestra musician. This model classified risk factors into nine categories and fifty-five different items to consider when looking after musicians. The main aim of this first step was to provide foundations to then develop tools to better investigate and assess musicians' health, providing useful resources to both healthcare practitioners and musicians (professionals, students, teachers, etc.) to enhance preventive interventions for playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. Based on this model, two separate tools were developed and tested to assess musicians' health: the Injury Risk Factors Questionnaire for Musicians, a self-report survey to screen a large number of risk factors and a comprehensive physical examination. Moreover, based on this risk factor model and on a literature review, the Postural Analysis Tool for Musicians has been described in order to better investigate musicians' posture and playing technique. Among psycho-social factors, pain beliefs are described in the general population as being potentially associated with chronic pain. The third study focused on inv [...]