Effect of daily piano practice on finger kinematics and muscular load

The present study aimed at assessing impacts of daily piano practice on kinematics and muscular activity of finger movements while musicallynaïve individuals played the piano. Six participants were asked to play a certain melody with metronome with the non-dominant left hand. They practiced fifty trials per day over four successive days. Time-varying joint positions at the hand were recorded using a motion-capture system consisting of 13 high-speed cameras. Extrinsic finger muscular activities were also recorded using a surface electromyography (EMG). The amount of agonist-antagonist muscular co-activation was then computed. The joint angle averaged within each trial was also computed at the MCP, PIP, and DIP joints for each of the fingers. With practicing, the mean angle at the MCP joint became more flexed while the angles at the PIP and DIP joints became more extended. One-way repeated measures ANOVA confirmed significant changes in the joint posture with daily practice. The amount of co-activation of the finger flexor and extensor muscles also displayed a decrease, which indicates a reduction in joint stiffness. This study provided the first evidence demonstrating that daily piano practice reorganizes hand posture in playing and economizes muscular work for stiffening joints.