EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: Part II-Influences of basic body awareness therapy on the violin playing technique [An ... Journal of Industrial Ergonomics]

EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: Part II-Influences of basic body awareness therapy on the violin playing technique [An ... Journal of Industrial Ergonomics] Review

This digital document is a journal article from International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This study used electromyography (EMG) to investigate if violinists could play with a greater variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern after an 8-week training program with Basic Body Awareness Therapy (Basic BAT), as compared with a reference group. Five professional orchestra violinists who trained Basic BAT were compared to nine violinists working as violin teachers or music students at higher education level who did not take part in any training. The trapezius muscle activity, while playing a piece of music, was monitored by bilateral surface EMG before and after the 8-week training period. Exposure Variation Analysis (EVA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used for the EMG analyses. No significant differences were found in the trapezius muscle activation between the Basic BAT-trained group and the reference group. The training group perceived positive changes in breathing, muscular tension, postural control and concentration mainly during practice sessions. Musicians might benefit from practicing warming up, taking regular pauses to recover and proper working technique in activities other than playing an instrument. Relevance to industry: Proper work technique, work postures and movements are important to prevent neck and shoulder problems. This study shows a pedagogical approach to modify posture and bodily reactions during work tasks.

EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: Part II-Influences of basic body awareness therapy on the violin playing technique [An article ... Journal of Industrial Ergonomics]

EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: Part II-Influences of basic body awareness therapy on the violin playing technique [An article ... Journal of Industrial Ergonomics] Review

This digital document is a journal article from International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
This study used electromyography (EMG) to investigate if violinists could play with a greater variation in the trapezius muscle activity pattern after an 8-week training program with Basic Body Awareness Therapy (Basic BAT), as compared with a reference group. Five professional orchestra violinists who trained Basic BAT were compared to nine violinists working as violin teachers or music students at higher education level who did not take part in any training. The trapezius muscle activity, while playing a piece of music, was monitored by bilateral surface EMG before and after the 8-week training period. Exposure Variation Analysis (EVA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used for the EMG analyses. No significant differences were found in the trapezius muscle activation between the Basic BAT-trained group and the reference group. The training group perceived positive changes in breathing, muscular tension, postural control and concentration mainly during practice sessions. Musicians might benefit from practicing warming up, taking regular pauses to recover and proper working technique in activities other than playing an instrument. Relevance to industry: Proper work technique, work postures and movements are important to prevent neck and shoulder problems. This study shows a pedagogical approach to modify posture and bodily reactions during work tasks.

EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: [An article from: International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics]

EMG trapezius muscle activity pattern in string players: [An article from: International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics] Review

This digital document is a journal article from International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Work related neck and shoulder disorders are a great problem for string musicians. A playing technique with more relaxed muscles and a greater variation in the muscle activity pattern, i.e., with shorter sequences at a varied number of amplitude levels as reflected by electromyography (EMG), might prevent pain. This study used EMG to study variations in the trapezius muscle activity pattern in 12 string musicians performing a piece of music at two playing sessions separated by a ten-week interval. Nine of the string musicians played violin, two viola and one cello. Exposure variation analysis and principal component analysis were used for analysis of the EMG. The trapezius muscle activity pattern was similar in the first and second playing sessions showing that each musician repeated his/her own muscular activity pattern. However, there was considerable variability in the muscle activity pattern between cello, violin and viola players and between individual violin players. Thus, this EMG method has the potential to identify variations and reproducibility of trapezius muscle activity in string musicians. This method may be used to analyse individual differences when performing a musical work task and to evaluate intervention studies. Relevance to industry: Intervention studies on muscle activity pattern which try to change the work technique need to be evaluated.