Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 25:4:1079781.
doi: 10.3389/fresc.2023.1079781. eCollection 2023.

Association between upper limb movements during drumming and cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia at a nursing home: a pilot study

Atsuko Miyazaki  1   2 , Yuichi Ito  3 , Takashi Okuyama  1   4 , Hayato Mori  5 , Kazuhisa Sato  6 , Masahiko Ichiki  7 , Atsushi Hiyama  1   8 , Jerome Dinet  9 , Rui Nouchi  10   11
Affiliations

Association between upper limb movements during drumming and cognition in older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia at a nursing home: a pilot study

Atsuko Miyazaki et al. Front Rehabil Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the association between motor dysfunction and dementia, quantitative assessment of dementia-related specific motor dysfunction in patients with severe dementia is difficult. Thus, this study aimed to develop a new method to measure upper limb motor function in people with dementia.

Methods: We examined the relationship between dementia severity and dementia-related specific motor dysfunction using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a dementia screening test. Participants comprised 16 nursing home residents with a mean age of 86 years and MMSE score of 14.56 (range, 1-23) Points. Participants were seated in a circle and instructed to play a drum that was placed in their lap using mallets (drumsticks) in their dominant hand. Acceleration and gyroscopic sensors were attached to their wrists to collect data on arm movements while drumming. Upper limb motor characteristics were confirmed by recording acceleration and arm movement during drumming and analyzing the correlation with handgrip strength.

Results: Handgrip strength was correlated with arm elevation angle during drumming. The arm elevation angle displayed a significant regression equation with the MMSE score and showed the best regression equation along with handgrip strength (adjusted R2 = 0.6035, p = 0.0009).

Conclusion: We developed a new method using drums to measure upper limb motor function in people with dementia. We also verified that the average arm elevation angle during drumming could predict cognitive dysfunction. This system may be used to monitor people with dementia in a simple and safe way.

Keywords: acceleration sensors; drum; gyro sensors; upper limb motor function; upper limb range of motion.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

YI was employed by Moff Inc. HM was employed by Super Reha, LLC. KS was employed by Care 21 Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A method for measuring arm movements during a drumming task. The average arm velocity (m/s) and average arm elevation angle (°) are measured from arm movements during drumming using a wristwatch type sensor, with acceleration and gyro sensors attached to the wrist of the dominant arm.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gale SA, Acar D, Daffner KR. Dementia. Am J Med. (2018) 131:1161–9. 10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.01.022 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Scarmeas N, Hadjigeorgiou GM, Papadimitriou A, Dubois B, Sarazin M, Brandt J, et al. Motor signs during the course of Alzheimer disease. Neurology. (2004) 63:975–82. 10.1212/01.wnl.0000138440.39918.0c - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang L, Larson EB, Bowen JD, Van Belle G. Performance-based physical function and future dementia in older people. Arch Intern Med. (2006) 166:1115–20. 10.1001/archinte.166.10.1115 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tufekcioglu Z, Bilgic B, Hanagasi H, Emre M. Management of motor symptoms in dementia disorders. In: Frederiksen KS, Waldemar G, editors. Management of patients with dementia: The role of the physician. New York: Springer International Publishing; (2021). p. 201–27. 10.1007/978-3-030-77904-7_10 - DOI
    1. Montero-Odasso M, Oteng-Amoako A, Speechley M, Gopaul K, Beauchet O, Annweiler C, et al. The motor signature of mild cognitive impairment: results from the gait and brain study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. (2014) 69:1415–21. 10.1093/gerona/glu155 - DOI - PMC - PubMed