Movement-specific keyboard playing for hand function in adolescents and young adults with acquired brain injury

Soo Ji Kim; Yoon-Kyum Shin; Eomhyeong Jeong; Sung-Rae Cho

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.1062615

Movement-specific keyboard playing for hand function in adolescents and young adults with acquired brain injury

Front Neurol. 2023 Jan 9:13:1062615. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.1062615. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Soo Ji Kim^{1

2}, Yoon-Kyum Shin^{3

4}, Eomhyeong Jeong^{3

5}, Sung-Rae Cho^{3

4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Music Therapy Education, Graduate School of Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
² Arts Education Therapy Institute, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
³ Department and Research Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Brain Korea 21 PLUS Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Graduate Program of Biomedical Engineering, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Rehabilitation Institute of Neuromuscular Disease, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

Background: Patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) suffer from deficits in fine motor function in hands which affect independent self-care function in daily life. This study aimed to examine the effects of movement-specific keyboard playing for improved hand function in adolescents and young adults with ABI.

Method: A total of 23 patients with ABI participated in this study. Twelve were assigned to the intervention group and eleven to the control group. The intervention group engaged in movement-specific keyboard playing three to four times a week for 3 weeks in addition to standard care, while the control group received only standard care.

Results: The results of a mixed model of repeated measures ANOVA showed that the time effects were significant in the functional independence measure, key-pressing force, and most of the hand function tests measured. In terms of the interaction effect between group and time, a significant effect was found only in the checker-stacking task as a subtest of the Jebsen-Talyor Hand Function Test.

Discussion: These results indicate that the specified movements required to play the keyboard may involve more precise and dexterous manipulation with hands and fingers. These results also suggest that movement-specific keyboard playing has potential in optimizing the intervention effect of keyboard playing while maximizing the benefits of music for motivating young patients with ABI.

Keywords: acquired brain injury; adolescents; hand function; keyboard playing; rehabilitation.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the R&D grant (Grant No. 2015007) on rehabilitation from the Korea National Rehabilitation Center Research Institute, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the National Research Foundation (NRF-2018M3A9G1082609) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Korea.