Analysis of upper arm muscle activation using surface electromyography signals during drum playing

This study measured surface electromyography of the biceps brachii and triceps brachii during repeated drum playing with and without a drumstick to better understand activation of the upper arm muscles and inform the use of instrument playing for motor rehabilitation. A total of 40 healthy college students participated in this study. All participants were asked to strike a drum with their hand and with a drumstick at three different levels of stroke: soft, medium, and strong. The stroke order was randomly assigned to participants. A sound level meter was used to record the intensity of the drum playing. Surface electromyography signals were recorded at every hit during drum playing both with and without the drumstick in each of the three stroke conditions. The results demonstrated that the highest muscle activation was observed in both biceps brachii and triceps brachii with strong drum playing with and without the drumstick. A two-way repeated measures analysis of variance showed that there was a significant main effect for stroke intensity in muscle activation and produced sound level. While higher activation of the triceps brachii was observed for drum playing without a drumstick, no significant differences were found between the biceps brachii and sound level. This study demonstrated via surface electromyography data that greater muscle activation of the biceps brachii and triceps brachii does not occur with the use of drumsticks in drum playing. With the drum sound controlled, drum playing by hand can be an effective therapeutic intervention for the upper arm muscles.