Understanding the Yips

The "yips" is a term used in sports to describe a sudden and inexplicable loss of ability to perform certain skills. This phenomenon is often associated with skills that require fine motor skills - like playing a sport such as golf, baseball, or tennis, or a musical instrument such as piano or violin. Those experiencing the yips may have trouble with activities they previously performed with ease. Think about what happened to Simone Biles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Many gymnastics experts said it looked like she got "lost in the air" or had "the twisties." This phenomenon has a lot of names; in addition to the most common phrase the yips, it is also called whiskey fingers, the monster, the waggles, dartitis, and musician's cramp.

What could cause people at the absolute peak of their profession to suddenly, and often permanently, lose their superpowers? Pro baseball pitcher Rick Ankiel described it as "one of the loneliest places you ever want to be." Dr. Sally Akehurst, a sports psychologist in London, has done research on the yips. She said, "Sometimes we hear from athletes that their performance is automatic, they can't even tell you what their performance was like. You know, when you drive in the car and it's so automatic after you've driven for a few years, isn't it? You can be singing along and doing other things when you're driving. But maybe the police come up behind you and suddenly you become very conscious of how you're driving, and it gets all a little bit less automatic. And it's then just a bit jerkier, it's not as smooth, it's not as efficient in the way that you're performing and processing."

Neurologist Dr. Steve Frucht said that scientists used to assume that the yips were psychological, but in the last few decades, there has been new research showing that for a small number of patients, there's actually a physical cause. They had an actual disorder in how the nervous system works: a disorder called focal dystonia. Dr. Frucht said, "Dystonia is a very unusual disorder in which involuntary movements are triggered by a very specific task. In this case, just by this athletic performance. That's not just a performance anxiety."

Movement disorders are neurological conditions that lead to involuntary movements, such as Parkinson's disease, Tourette Syndrome, or Essential Tremor. And just like a lot of movement disorders, scientists still don't know exactly what causes focal dystonia. But they do know a couple basic things about the symptoms. Mayo Clinic states, "It's most likely related to overuse of a certain set of muscles... Anxiety worsens the effect." Practice on its own does not make dystonia go away; it might actually make it worse. Medicine or even Botox injections can help stop twitches in some cases, but even when these treatments do work, they just blunt the effects of dystonia. They don't fix the underlying issue in the brain.

For baseball's Rick Ankiel, his pitching career was over. But that didn't mean his baseball career was over. After years in the minor leagues and working with experts, Ankiel made his return to the Cardinals - this time as an outfielder. Going from pitching to playing outfield in the majors might not sound like the hardest thing, but only a tiny handful of players have ever been able to do both at the highest level. While he still could not pitch accurately from the mound, as an outfielder, his arm was strong and accurate. In a similar way to athletes, musicians can also find success after a case of the yips. Dr. Frucht said, "It's not uncommon for somebody to develop dystonia just on one instrument. So, they can't play flute, but saxophone and clarinet, just fine."

By advancing research in neuroscience, psychology, and sports medicine, the scientific and athletic communities can work together to develop more effective strategies to understand, prevent, and treat the yips. While the yips can be frustrating and career-threatening, with proper attention and treatment, it is possible to manage or even overcome the condition.