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Link to original content: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00417-010-1600-x
Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions | Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Skip to main content

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Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions

  • Glaucoma
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

We investigated the effects on intraocular pressure (IOP) and blood pressure (BP) of playing brass and woodwind instruments by monitoring IOP and BP in a representative group of professional musicians under a variety of common playing conditions.

Methods

IOP and BP measurements were recorded from 37 brass and 15 woodwind instrument players, before and after playing tones of low, middle and high frequency. We also measured IOP and BP before and during playing common exercises of 10 minutes duration, as well as after playing a sustained high-pitched tone, to test for changes in IOP under conditions of maximum effort.

Results

Playing tones on brass and woodwind instruments causes a temporary elevation in IOP and BP, depending on the tone frequency: brass instrument players showed a significant elevation after playing high and middle frequency tones (p < 0.0001) whereas woodwind instrument players showed a significant increase only for high frequencies (e.g., oboe, 17 ± 2.9 mm Hg to 21 ± 4.4 mm Hg; p = 0.017). Playing a typical exercise of 10 minutes temporarily increased IOP in both groups of musicians. Finally, playing a sustained tone of high pitch caused a significant elevation in IOP in brass instrument players only (16.6 ± 3.5 mm Hg to 23.3 ± 8.9 mm Hg; p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

The temporary and sometimes dramatic elevations and fluctuations in IOP observed in this study, coupled with daily exposure to instrument play, puts professional wind instrument players at increased risk of developing glaucoma. Consequently, these musicians should be monitored for signs of glaucoma, especially those with co-existing risk factors.

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Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Graeme Kennedy for helpful comments on the manuscript. Results of this paper were partly presented at the International Congress on Music Physiology and Musician Medicine 2009 (Freiburg, Germany).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, G4 0BA, Glasgow, Scotland

    Gunnar Schmidtmann

  2. Course of Optometry, University of Applied Sciences Luebeck/Fielmann Akademie, Schloss Plön, Plön, 24306, Germany

    Gunnar Schmidtmann & Hans-Jürgen Grein

  3. Optometry and Vision Science, University of Applied Sciences, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745, Jena, Germany

    Susanne Jahnke & Wolfgang Sickenberger

  4. Department of Physical und Rehabilitation Medicine, The Liszt School of Music Weimar, Institute of Musician’s Medicine and Music Physiology, Henry-van-de-Velde-Straße 2, 99425, Weimar, Germany

    Egbert J. Seidel

Authors
  1. Gunnar Schmidtmann
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  2. Susanne Jahnke
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  3. Egbert J. Seidel
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  4. Wolfgang Sickenberger
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Correspondence to Gunnar Schmidtmann.

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Schmidtmann, G., Jahnke, S., Seidel, E.J. et al. Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 249, 895–901 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-010-1600-x

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