Skip to main content
Log in

Coherence of coactivation and acceleration in task-specific primary bowing tremor

  • Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Short communication
  • Published:
Journal of Neural Transmission Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Coherences between coactivation of wrist antagonist muscles and movement fluctuation were assessed in four violinists with a task-specific tremor and four age-matched healthy violinists using electromyography and accelerometer. We found coherence between individual muscular activation and tremor only in patients at a frequency range of 3–8 Hz. The finding corroborates the notion that primary bowing tremor emerges mainly due to central neurogenic contributions via motor-unit synchronization. Furthermore, the coherence between the muscular coactivation and tremor suggests a relation of the tremor to dystonia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Bain PG (2011) Task-specific tremor. Handb Clin Neurol 100:711–718

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen LG, Hallett M (1988) Hand cramps: clinical features and electromyographic patterns in a focal dystonia. Neurology 38:1005–1012

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Deuschl G, Bain P, Brin M (1998) Consensus statement of the movement disorder society on tremor ad hoc scientific committee. Mov Disord 13(Suppl 3):2–23

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elble RJ (1996) Central mechanisms of tremor. J Clin Neurophysiol 13:133–144

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ericsson KA, Krampe RT, Tesch-Römer C (1993) The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychol Rev 100:363–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farmer SF, Sheean GL, Mayston MJ, Rothwell JC, Marsden CD, Conway BA et al (1998) Abnormal motor unit synchronization of antagonist muscles underlies pathological co-contraction in upper limb dystonia. Brain 121(Pt 5):801–814

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Furuya S, Aoki T, Nakahara H, Kinoshita H (2012) Individual differences in the biomechanical effect of loudness and tempo on upper-limb movements during repetitive piano keystrokes. Hum Mov Sci 31:26–39

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Furuya S, Kinoshita H (2008) Organization of the upper limb movement for piano key-depression differs between expert pianists and novice players. Exp Brain Res 185:581–593

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Halliday DM, Conway BA, Farmer SF, Rosenberg JR (1999) Load-independent contributions from motor-unit synchronization to human physiological tremor. J Neurophysiol 82:664–675

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lederman RJ (2012) Primary bowing tremor: a task-specific movement disorder of string instrumentalists. Med Probl Perform Art 27:219–223

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee A, Altenmüller E (2012) Primary task-specific bowing tremor: an entity of its own? Med Probl Perform Art 27:224–226

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee A, Tominaga K, Furuya S, Miyazaki F, Altenmüller E (2013) Task-specific tremor in violinists: evidence of coactivation in the 3 to 8 Hz frequency range. Mov Disord 28:1890–1892

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McAuley JH, Rothwell JC, Marsden CD (1997) Frequency peaks of tremor, muscle vibration and electromyographic activity at 10 Hz, 20 Hz and 40 Hz during human finger muscle contraction may reflect rhythmicities of central neural firing. Exp Brain Res 114:525–541

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Osu R, Franklin DW, Kato H, Gomi H, Domen K, Yoshioka T et al (2002) Short- and long-term changes in joint co-contraction associated with motor learning as revealed from surface EMG. J Neurophysiol 88:991–1004

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbaum F, Jankovic J (1988) Focal task-specific tremor and dystonia: categorization of occupational movement disorders. Neurology 38:522–527

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Russotto D, Perlmutter JS (2008) Task-specific dystonias. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1142:179–199

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to André Lee.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, A., Tominaga, K., Furuya, S. et al. Coherence of coactivation and acceleration in task-specific primary bowing tremor. J Neural Transm 121, 739–742 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1177-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1177-3

Keywords

Navigation