It all started in 2009, when Roger Frisch, a violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra, began noticing slight difficulty controlling his bow. He had been experiencing small tremors, which medical doctors later diagnosed as a condition causing his brain to send involuntary movement signals.
After a few years of struggling with the terrifying reality of having his career cut short, he decided to take matters in his own hands (literally), and undergo an experimental procedure known as Deep Brain Stimulation.
The complex procedure involves the surgical implantation of a special pacemaker, which sends out minute electrical impulses that help control involuntary movement by sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, dystonia, chronic pain, major depression and OCD.
The experimental procedure has proven to be very successful, but exactly how it all works is still not clearly understood by neuroscientists, who have been studying the mechanisms of the practice since the late 1990’s
In Frisch case, the doctors needed to know exactly where to place the electrodes, and asked the violinist to play throughout surgery to help doctors locate the exact spot.
The Daily Mail reported that they placed a special device on Frisch’s violin bow, that allowed them to track the micro movements of the tremors onto a graph. The doctors then used the results to fine tune the placement of the electrodes.
In a post surgery interview with Ovation Press’s String Visions, Krisch reported that the surgery was a total success, and his tremors have now disappeared.
Frisch has since re-joined the MO as Associate Concert Master, and is indebted to the procedure which has returned his ability to perform tremor free.
Watch the incredible video here:
Michael Vincent