Introduction: Musicians may present musculoskeletal pain, weakness, numbness, and tingling due to repetitive exercises. Objective: To evaluate the severity index of musculoskeletal symptoms (MS) in keyboard players. Method: A cross-sectional study including volunteers of both sexes, aged between 18 and 40 years, who performed professionally for at least 2 years, played the keyboard for at least 3 hours a week, and did not present previous history of trauma or rheumatic, neurological, and systemic diseases. The MS and its severity index were evaluated using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and the intensity was assessed on a scale of 4. The difference between the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain according to the anatomical region was analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. For all analyses, a significance level of 5% was adopted. This research was conducted after the ethics committee approval (No. 2,627,609). Results: Thirty-nine volunteers with discomfort were evaluated. Pain in the thoracic and lumbar spine in the last 12 months was most common (n = 27, 69.24%; p < 0.031), and in the last seven days, lumbar spine pain occurred in 12 (30.76%; p < 0.001). A severity index of 2 was the most frequent (n = 21, 54%). Conclusion: Keyboardists present with MS mainly in the vertebral column, and the severity of the symptoms is significant, suggesting the importance of prevention and treatment of MS before their onset.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence and severity of musculoskeletal (MS) symptoms in the trunk and upper limbs of keyboardists. Cross-sectional study, including volunteers of both genders, aged 18-40 years, who practiced for at least 2 years, excluding those with systemic diseases, were assessed for MS pain using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. The χ-squared test was used for statistical analysis and a significance level of 5% was adopted. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ceuma University (opinion nº 2,627,609). Thirty-nine volunteers were evaluated, and all reported experiencing pain or discomfort. The regions of greatest complaint of chronic pain/discomfort were the thoracic and lumbar spine (n = 27 ,69.24%; p 0.05) and wrist/hand (n = 23.58.9%). The highest acute complaint was in the lumbar spine (n = 12, 30.76%; p 0.05), and in the wrist/hand (n = 9, 23.07%). A severity index of 1 was the most frequent (n = 14, 36%). It can be concluded that keyboardists have MS mainly in the spine, wrist, and hands, although the severity of the symptoms is mild; the high frequency of complaints suggests the importance of prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal symptoms before aggravation.