Long-term treatment effects of sensory motor retuning in a pianist with focal dystonia.

Here we present the case of a pianist suffering from unilateral focal hand dystonia for 10 yrs which affected his piano playing as well as other activities of daily life. The treatment applied was sensory motor retuning (SMR), a behavioral treatment for focal hand dystonia. Improvement was clearly achieved from the beginning of therapy. After 10 mos of treatment, performance levels were comparable to those before illness onset. The patient returned to high-level piano playing, and after 8 yrs of follow-up, performance remains normal.