BackgroundExtensive audio‐motor training and psychological stress can cause professional musicians acute overstrain‐injury and chronic pain, resulting in damaged careers and diminished quality of life. It has also been previously shown that musicians might perceive pain differently than non‐musicians. Therefore, the aim of our study was to quantify differences between musicians and non‐musicians regarding their subjective responses to painful contact heat stimuli and assess how emotional traits might influence these responses.MethodsUpon completing the StateTrait‐Anxiety‐Depression Inventory, 15 healthy musicians and 15 healthy non‐musicians from German universities received 15 noxious contact heat stimuli at the dorsal side of each hand and foot. After each stimulation, participants were asked to provide a pain rating from 0 to 10.ResultsMusicians not only reported significantly higher pain ratings after the first stimulation but also showed a significantly higher degree of habituation compared to non‐musicians. Additionally, musicians showed a significantly less pronounced difference regarding the pain rating of the hands compared to the feet than non‐musicians. Trait anxiety and trait depression scores had no effect on the pain rating or the habituation.ConclusionThe more pronounced habituation of musicians might hint at a neuroplastic nociceptive alteration in musicians. The lack of significance between the psychological traits and their effect on the pain ratings is surprising but could be a result of both participant groups having stressful careers.SignificanceThe findings of this report justify musicians' repetitive sensorimotor training as an important model for plasticity and contribute to a better understanding of pain perception in musicians.
