title: Task-specific tremor in violinists: evidence of coactivation in the 3 to 8 Hz frequency range.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Task-specific tremor in musicians severely impairs fine motor control. However, little is known about its pathophysiology. Here, we quantify electromyography (EMG) properties in primary bowing tremor-in particular, muscular coactivation-to determine whether primary bowing tremor affects a specific frequency range of coactivation.
  
  
  METHODS
  We quantitatively compared EMG properties of the wrist muscles between 4 professional violinists who had task-specific tremor and 4 age-matched healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed bowing tremor-specific muscular coactivation in the frequency range of 3 to 8 Hz only in the patients but not in the healthy controls. No muscular activity was observed at the resonance-frequency range.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate an association between coactivation and bowing tremor at a specific frequency range (3-8 Hz). The absence of EMG activity and coactivation in the mechanical-reflex frequency of the wrist suggests that central mechanisms play a more dominant role than mechanical-reflex mechanisms in primary bowing tremor.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Hannover University for Music, Drama, and Media, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kenta
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tominaga
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altenmüller
mesh_terms: D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009146:Music; D014202:Tremor / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: dystonia; electromyography; musicians; task specificity; tremor