Studies on professional orchestra musicians have shown a high incidence of physical problems mainly on the level of the musculoskeletal system. At the same time, the individual instrument groups differ in the types and patterns of complaints. So far, no study on amateur orchestra musicians has been conducted. We therefore interviewed the 130 members of the "Bayerisches Arzteorchester", all members being amateur musicians. The complaints were documented and compared with those of professional orchestra musicians. 84 % of the musicians had physical problems, 74 % involving the musculoskeletal system. The high string players suffered mainly from shoulder-neck problems, cellists and bassists complained of neck and lumbar spine problems. Wind players suffered at the spine and woodwind players at individual digits. The hand was affected in 39 % of the musicians. The complaints voiced by amateur musicians are essentially identical with those found in professional musicians.

HLA phenotyping is needed in a larger number of SCFE twin cases to evaluate phenotypic patterns for coincidence to provide a basis for the genetic expression of this condition.