Using an Ergonomic Chinrest With or Without Shoulder Rest During Violin Playing: a Feasibility Study

NCT05509465 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 10.990
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 6
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

A one-arm feasibility study was conducted to test if violinists would accept to play with an identified ergonomic chinrest (EC) with the brand name Kréddle every day for two weeks. Every day the participants had to divide their total playing time equally between EC+ (ergonomic chinrest with shoulder rest) and EC- (ergonomic chinrest without shoulder rest) each day.

Conditions

Ergonomics

Keywords

Feasibility; Violin playing; ergonomic chinrest; performance

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (4)

• Usability

  Self-reported information about the usability of the EC- and EC+ was obtained by asking questions about perceived performance, comfort, and sound experience, as well as adjustment and confidence level. Furthermore, if the instructions videos given prior to the familiarization period were usable.

  Two weeks

• Acceptability

  Every day each violinist was encouraged to write feedback in the diary about using EC+, EC- and about the intervention. The descriptions and comments were categorized into comments about using EC-, EC+ or general comments; the response was grouped as positive or negative feedback.

  Two weeks

• Adherence

  Adherence to the protocol was recorded from the self-administrated two-week diary. The violinist had to answer a small questionnaire and play each day with one of the settings. Adherence is counted as numbers of days played with the different settings out of the two weeks given.

  Two weeks

• Compliance

  Compliance for playing with EC- and EC+ was reached if the violinist managed to play minimum 25% out of total playing time with each of both settings. If compliance was \<25% it was considered that it would be a problem to use the setting

  Two weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Neck movement was recorded by the device called ViMove.

  Two weeks

Study Arms (2)

Ergonomic chinrest used with low shoulder rest (EC+)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will play the violin using the ergonomic chinrest with a low Kun Super shoulder rest (EC+) for a two-week period to test its usability and acceptability. Each day participants have to use half of their playing time with EC+.

Device: Ergonomic chinrest used with a low Super Kun shoulder rest

Ergonomic chinrest used without shoulder rest (EC-)

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will play the violin using the ergonomic chinrest without a shoulder rest for a two-week period to test its usability and acceptability. Each day participants have to use half of their playing time with EC-.

Device: Ergonomic chinrest

Interventions

Ergonomic chinrest DEVICE

The novel ergonomic chinrest (Kréddle®, Wyoming, US) is fully adjustable to accommodate each violinist's body type and performance style: regarding height, rotation and tilting.

Ergonomic chinrest used without shoulder rest (EC-)

Ergonomic chinrest used with a low Super Kun shoulder rest DEVICE

The novel ergonomic chinrest (Kréddle®, Wyoming, US) is fully adjustable to accommodate each violinist's body type and performance style: regarding height, rotation and tilting. The low Super Kun shoulder rest has been adjusted to be in the lowest position for all legs attached to the violin before the violinists received it. All participants was told not to adjust the shoulder rest but adjust the chinrest.

Ergonomic chinrest used with low shoulder rest (EC+)

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Writing and speaking Danish or English fluently. Participants had to be trained violinists who could play the protocol classical repertoire and without a permanent employment contract in a Danish symphony orchestra.

You may not qualify if:

• Trauma on the upper cervical spine or upper extremities within the previous year, previous or planned shoulder/neck operation, life-threatening health disorders, pacemaker or severe eczema on neck and upper extremities.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern Denmark: lead
• Axel Muusfeldts fond: collaborator
• Region of Southern Denmark: collaborator
• Sygekassernes Helsefond: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Southern Denmark

Odense, 5230, Denmark

Location

Study Officials

• Karen Søgaard, PhD

  University of Southern Denmark

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: This study is open label, meaning that no masking occurs.
• Purpose: DEVICE FEASIBILITY
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: The two intervention groups (EC+ and EC-) consist of the same participants. Every day the same participants have to divide their violin playing time equally between playing with EC+ and EC-. Each day the order of the interventions is decided by the participants.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 17, 2022
• First Posted: August 22, 2022
• Study Start: August 21, 2020
• Primary Completion: October 16, 2020
• Study Completion: October 16, 2020
• Last Updated: August 22, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-08

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

DK (1)