Neuro-biological research into chronic pain has presented reliable evidence of distinct cortical and spinal alterations in chronic pain sufferers compared to healthy individuals. Furthermore, research suggests that musicians are especially vulnerable to frequent and extended pain, supported by recent neurological investigations into musicians' brain plasticity. However, chronic pain is not simply acute pain plus time, but a separate condition. Little is known about musicians' emotions and chronic pain-related behaviors. Acquiring such knowledge is a crucial step in understanding how chronic pain is processed by musicians. This study investigated pain catastrophizing as one of the pain-related behaviors and emotions alongside six complementary variables: anxiety, depression, depersonalization, burnout, coping strategies and professional identity. 102 under- and postgraduate students from various higher education institutions participated in an online survey. Students were allocated to three groups according to their main study subject and type of institution: music college musicians, university musicians and university non-musicians. Group testing showed that university non-musicians' pain catastrophizing was significantly worse compared to music college musicians. Music college musicians and university musicians were less prone to maladaptive pain processes, despite perceiving pain for significantly longer periods of time. This novel finding indicates that chronic pain does not inevitably lead to dysfunctional pain processing for musicians and should be reflected accordingly in order to optimize pain-control. The bio-psycho-socio model of chronic pain provides the most robust framework for future research, with the aim of improving care and wellbeing provision for the management of chronic pain in musicians.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee of University of Sheffield (UK) gave ethical approval for this work

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors