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JG:
I was approached by a darts player last week regarding FD. Apparently, in the world of darts they call it dartitis.

We spoke for 3 hours yesterday on Skype. The similarities between MFD and dartitis are astounding. I simply adapted my approach for fellow musicians to dart players, and there were several “a-ha” moments for the player. By the end of the session he had made considerable progress, and was throwing with considerably more ease, efficiency, and accuracy.

One thing I noticed was that the relationship of his head to his neck to his body determined how strongly his symptoms appeared. When we focussed on efficiency and a relaxed, neutral position in this part of the body (similar to Alexander Technique), together with my approach to breathing reducing overall body/mind activation, the problem almost vanished. In fact, he threw a triple 20 “without even trying” 🙂

Just more proof that if there is a FD problem with your hand, wrist, arm, or shoulder, the *cause* of the problem *may* very well be somewhere else. Resolve the cause, and the symptoms disappear 🙂

Forum Member:
It sounds like this was solely a physical cause, without any emotional component?

JG:
In this case, the physical side of things was substantial, but we came to the root cause towards the end of the session. The player said “I guess it’s all about fear. I’ve been afraid of the consequences of missing, and I guess my body is reacting to that fear”. So in the session, yes, we certainly spent a lot of time on the physical side. But, we also started unravelling why the fear occured and how he could change his perception of those situations that had previously been experienced as frightening/anxious. I think this multi-faceted approach is the most effective.

Forum Member:
Thanks for that explanation – it sounds so simple!