"Athletes use their muscles to the extreme, often leading to painful conditions.... But what about musicians, such as the classical pianist who practices etudes and arpeggios up to 15 hours a day, or the rock guitarist running pentatonic scales six hours in a row? ...Couldn't there be a nearly athletic muscular strain born of such continuous physical demands?"

"Dr. Michael E. Charness, director of the Brigham and Women's "performing arts clinic," believes the answer is yes. ...Charness is one of a handful of doctors in that narrow medical specialty."

"I've seen a lot of musicians who go to doctors with their problems, just to be told it's all in their head. Or they are told to stop playing their instrument. You can't tell musicians that."

"Karen Choo, a 24-year-old violinist with ulnar nerve problems thought [her pain] was just because [her] technique wasn't strong anymore.... I felt relieved ... that it was actually a physical problem, and ... there was something I could do about it."

"Charness should know. He's had the same operation Choo had for musical injuries. In addition to practicing medicine and being a research scientist..., Charness has played piano since he was 9."

"I'm a neurologist, I'm a scientist, I'm a dad, I'm a musician," says Charness.

"In the insular world of classical musicians, word spread quickly, and patients began to come [to the performing arts clinic at Brigham and Women's Hospital] from Europe, Canada, and across the United States."

According to Regina Campbell, owner and clinician at Performing Arts Physical and Occupational Therapy in Brookline, Mass., Charness understands musicians. "He knows what they're talking about, knows the instruments, the posture, the technique. He knows what it's like to play too much, and he knows how to fix it."