Efficacy Study of the Music Glove Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries

Not Applicable

Completed

Interventions: Other: Conventional Hand Exercise Program
Device: Music Glove

Brief Summary: Investigators are trying to determine the therapeutic effect of the music glove and conventional hand exercise program to patients with spinal cord injuries. All participants will be randomized into two groups: AB and BA. They will all exercise at least 3 times a week for 3 weeks with minimum of 3 hours of exercise time per week. Participants will receive the other intervention at their 3 week post-therapy follow-up visits. Clinical evaluations will be performed at baseline 1 and 2 (3 to 10 days apart), post-therapy after the first intervention, 3-week post-therapy follow up, post-therapy after the second intervention, and 3-week post-second intervention follow up visits.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

History of spinal cord injury affecting the arm and hand functions, at least 6 months prior to enrollment
Upper extremity weakness as measured on a standard clinical scale
No active major psychiatric problems, or neurological/orthopedic problems affecting the training upper extremity
No active major neurological disease other than the spinal cord injury
Absence of pain in the affected upper extremity

Exclusion Criteria

Severe tone at the affected upper extremity as measured on a standard clinical scale
Severe sensory/proprioception deficit at the affected upper extremity as measured on a standard clinical scale
Difficulty in understanding or complying with instructions given by the experimenter
Inability to perform the experimental task that will be studied
Increased pain with movement of the training upper extremity

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Conventional Hand Exercise Program	Conventional Hand Exercise Program	Conventional Hand Exercise Program includes range of motion exercises, strengthening exercises, coordinating exercises of the hand and fingers. This exercise program is designed by an occupational therapist and is a general exercise program that a stroke patient will receive when he/she is being discharged from the hospital.
Music Glove	Music Glove	Music Glove is a glove with sensors attached to the tips of all 5 fingers. The glove is connected to a software musical program like guitar hero. Participants will follow the rhythm or musical notes of the songs and move their fingers accordingly. Participants are reinforced with biofeedback that includes visual and auditory cues when the correct sequences are achieved.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Box and Blocks Test	Baseline, EOT 1st Intervention, 1 month post 1 intervention, EOT 2nd Intervention, and 1 month post 2nd Intervention.	We compared the change of Box and Blocks Test (BBT) scores from baseline evaluation to the end of 3-week of therapy, and from 1-month post first intervention to the end of the second 3-week therapy. Participants are instructed to move as many blocks as possible, one at a time, from one compartment in a box to a second compartment over a divider for a period of 60 seconds; each block that is moved is counted, and multiple blocks moved at the same time are counted as a single block. The higher scores indicate better outcomes.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Graded Redefined Assessment of Strength, Sensibility and Prehension (GRASSP)	Baseline, EOT 1st Intervention, 1 month post 1 intervention, EOT 2nd Intervention, and 1 month post 2nd Intervention.	We used the GRASSP to capture information on upper limb impairment from the SCI population through three domains: Strength, Sensibility, and Prehension. We focused on the Prehension section of the test. The prehension ability domain consists of three different tasks 1) Cylindrical Grasp, 2) Lateral Key Pinch, \& 3) Tip to Tip Pinch and one can score 0-4 for each task for a total of 12 points for this section. The prehension performance domain consists of 1) pour water from a bottle, 2) open jars, 3) pick up \& turn a key, 4) transfer 9 pegs board to board, 5) pick up 4 coins \& place in the slot, 6) screw 4 nuts onto bolts and one can score 0-5 for each task for a total of 30 points. The score for each domain of the prehension test is totaled for each of the upper extremities with ranges from 0 to 42. The higher scores indicate better functional outcomes.