About MPPA

Medical Problems of Performing Artists is a peer-reviewed medical journal that provides a worldwide forum for professionals involved in practice and research related to performing arts medicine. Issued quarterly, it publishes information about the origin and nature, management, and rehabilitation of medical problems affecting musicians, dancers, vocalists, actors, and others, including anxiety, musculoskeletal injuries and overuse, finger and hand problems, voice and hearing problems, stress, eating disorders, and neuromuscular disorders.

MPPA is the official publication of the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (ASPAH) and Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA).

Beginning with Volume 35 (2020), MPPA is published online-only (e-journal).

• Editor-Dance: Shaw Bronner, PT, PhD, OCS
  Alvin Ailey and ADAM Center, New York, NY

• Editor-Music: Nancy N. Byl, PT, MPH, PhD

  University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

• Editor-Music: Eckart Altenmüller, MD
  Institut für Musikphysiologie und Musiker-Medizin, Hannover, Germany

History: Medical Problems of Performing Artists began publishing in March 1986. It was begun by Alice Brandfonbrener, MD, who was approached by the publisher Hanley & Belfus to become its first Editor (MPPA 1995;10(4):113; MPPA 2005;20(2):63). Dr. Brandfonbrener was one of the pioneers of performing arts medicine, and in the 1980s she began organizing a conference of similar-minded physicians and researchers meeting at the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado (MPPA 2002;12(4):147). In her first editorial in MPPA in March 1986, Dr. Branfonbrener explained the goals of the new journal: “The purpose of Medical Problems of Performing Artists is to promote interest in the medical problems of performing artists, to help in the search for and dissemination of information, and by these means to promote the well-being of this vulnerable and valuable segment of our society” (MPPA 1986;1(1):1). She went on to serve as Editor of the journal for 20 years.

            Over the following years, and following Dr. Brandfonbrener’s direction, the journal has helped to build awareness of the medical and health conditions affecting musicians, dancers, vocalists, actors, and other performing artists, as well as to inspire scientific research into their origins and treatment. In 1990, the journal was designated as the official publication of the newly formed Performing Arts Medicine Association, which Dr. Brandfonbrener, Dr. Richard Lederman, and notable others had organized in September 1989 (MPPA 1990;5(2):65). In 2005, the Dutch Performing Arts Medicine Association (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Dans- en Muziekgeneeskunde, NVDMG) adopted MPPA as its official journal (ending 2023), and in 2010, the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (ASPAH) joined as an official sponsor of the journal.

            MPPA was selected for indexing by Medline/PubMed beginning in 2010. Since 2002, the journal has been published by Science & Medicine, who as owner and publisher of the journal, are committed to preserving the vision of Alice Brandfonbrener and promoting the well-being of performing artists. 

Indexing:

The journal contents is listed and indexed in:

• MEDLINE/PubMed

• PsycInfo

• Google Scholar

• Current Contents/Arts & Humanities

• ISI/BIOMED

• Excerpta Medica/EMBASE

• CINAHL

• International Index to Music Periodicals

• Music Index

• RILM (Répertoire Internationale de Littérature Musicale) Abstracts of Music Literature