Toronto-area doctor speaks out against the stigma surrounding performing arts injuries

Dr. John Chong, the newly elected president of the Performing Arts Medicine Association, aims to break the taboo about disclosing performing arts injuries during his two-year stint at the organization. Chong’s years of experience helping performing artists (including Canadian notables The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo and Broken Social Scene) cope with injuries led him to the observation that THC—that is, targeted humiliating criticism—increases the likelihood of developing physical injuries. (THC is also known generally as, um, mental strain.) Artists are hesitant to speak out about mental or physical injury due to fear of losing job opportunities in an already make-it-or-break-it type industry, something Chong knows from personal experience. As he told the Toronto Star, “When you get clobbered in an audition, or you lose out in a piano competition…it’s very abusive. It just becomes anger turned inward.” [Toronto Star]