Playing the piano involves rapid and precise upper limb movements, which requires seamless integration of the proprioceptive and motor systems. In this study, we comprehensively assessed active and passive proprioception and different domains of motor function in young pianists, aiming to understand how their proprioceptive and motor functions are improved. Fifty-seven participants, including seventeen 11- to 12-year-old (young) pianists, 20 children, and 20 adults, were included. The children in the pianist group had received piano training for six years, while the children/adults in the control group had no previous experience with instrumental training. All participants performed a psychophysical discrimination threshold hunting task and an ipsilateral joint position reproduction task, both of which measured the position sense acuity of the wrist. Their motor function was evaluated by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, 2^nd edition. The results revealed that the young pianists showed a significantly lower position sense discrimination threshold (31%) and fewer joint position reproduction errors (49%) than the nontrained children. Second, a higher level of manual dexterity, but not of ball skills or balance, was found in the young pianist group. Third, a higher proprioceptive acuity (i.e., decreased position sense discrimination threshold) significantly correlated with higher manual dexterity. This study documents that a high wrist position sense is a common characteristic among young pianists. The increased upper limb position sense acuity is correlated with better manual dexterity, suggesting that piano practice may benefit untrained fine motor skills in children.

中文翻译：

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手腕本体敏锐度与接受钢琴训练的儿童的精细运动功能有关

弹钢琴涉及快速而精确的上肢运动，这需要本体感觉和运动系统的无缝整合。在这项研究中，我们综合评估了年轻钢琴家的主动和被动本体感觉以及不同领域的运动功能，旨在了解他们的本体感觉和运动功能是如何改善的。包括 57 名参与者，包括 17 名 11 至 12 岁（年轻）钢琴家、20 名儿童和 20 名成人。钢琴家的孩子接受过六年的钢琴训练，而对照组的孩子/成人没有任何乐器训练的经验。所有参与者都执行了心理物理歧视阈值狩猎任务和同侧关节位置再现任务，两者都测量了手腕的位置感知敏锐度。他们的运动功能由儿童运动评估小组评估，2^nd版。结果显示，与未受过训练的儿童相比，年轻钢琴家表现出显着较低的位置感辨别阈值 (31%) 和更少的关节位置再现错误 (49%)。其次，在年轻钢琴家群体中发现了更高水平的手巧，但不是球技巧或平衡。第三，更高的本体感觉敏锐度（即降低的位置感觉辨别阈值）与更高的手灵巧度显着相关。该研究表明，高手腕位置感是年轻钢琴家的共同特征。增加的上肢位置感觉敏锐度与更好的手巧相关，这表明钢琴练习可能有益于儿童未经训练的精细运动技能。