Experimental study demonstrates reduced upper-limb muscle fatigue on narrower keyboards in small-handed pianists, suggesting ergonomic modifications alleviate performance strain.
Key Points
To evaluate the effect of keyboard size and hand anthropometry on perceived exertion and upper-limb muscle fatigue progression in expert pianists during a repetitive task.
Assessed 20 expert pianists performing a controlled, repetitive piano task on both a standard keyboard and a narrower DS6.0 keyboard.
Measured muscle fatigue progression via high-density surface electromyography (EMG) on the right posterior forearm and wireless EMG sensors on upper-limb musculature.
Quantified the myoelectric manifestation of fatigue by tracking shifts in median EMG frequency across standardized performance intervals.
Smaller hand anthropometry directly contributed to heightened perceived exertion and increased muscle fatigue in the finger and wrist extensor muscles.
Performing on the narrower DS6.0 keyboard reduced perceived exertion, alleviated signs of fatigue in the radial area of finger/wrist extensors, and maintained faster playing tempo near task completion.
Hand-size and keyboard-size effects localized to distinct anatomical regions of the posterior forearm, indicating narrower keyboards reduce but do not completely eliminate disparities driven by hand span.