Classical Guitar for Parkinson's Disease

CAPO: Classical Guitar to Alleviate Parkinson's Disease Symptom Onus

The purpose of this study is to understand if training Parkinson's disease patients in classical guitar will improve motor function, mood, and quality of life. While medication has been found to be effective for many Parkinson's disease patients, many patients still have symptoms. Previous studies have found that music and rhythm-based activities can help Parkinson's disease symptoms. A previous study looked at the effect of playing classical guitar on Parkinson's disease symptoms. They found positive changes in Parkinson's disease symptoms that lasted for 6 weeks after the study ended. Further, there were positive changes in depression, anxiety, and quality of life.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Parkinson Disease
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Guitar then physical therapy; Other: Physical therapy then guitar

Detailed Description

Subjects will be asked to take part in classical guitar lessons once a week for six weeks and physical therapy once a week for six weeks. There will be 40 people enrolled in the study. Twenty people will have classical guitar lessons first and physical therapy second. The other twenty people will have physical therapy first and classical guitar lessons second. The study will last a total of 12 weeks. Each session will last 1-2 hours. Sessions will be held at the Northwest Chapter headquarters of the American Parkinson's Disease Association.

Examples of the types of activities subjects will do during the physical therapy sessions include finger exercises, tasks with both hands, tasks while standing, and tasks while walking.

Examples of the types of activities you will do during the classical guitar lessons include playing chords and songs on the guitar.

Subjects will have physical exams and complete questionnaires at the beginning of the study, at six weeks, and at the end of the study.

If subjects have Apple watches, they will be asked to download an application called StrivePD on their watch and iPhone. StrivePD is an application that allows subjects to keep track of their Parkinson's disease symptoms or set medication reminders, for example. When used with an Apple watch, it can automatically record symptoms like tremors. During this study, the StrivePD application will only be used to collect data about what percentage of the day they have tremors and how much they sleep.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Christopher Adams, MS, MD; Phone Number: 206-616-5207; Email: caadams1@uw.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Washington
    • Seattle, Washington, United States, 98109
      • Recruiting
      • Northwest Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association
      • Contact: Christopher Adams, MS, MD; Email: caadams1@uw.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Christopher Adams, MS, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• 50-90 years old
• Diagnosis with Parkinson's disease by a Movement Disorder specialist

Exclusion Criteria:

• Professional musician or formal music training
• Inability to play a classical guitar physically
• Inability to follow instruction
• Receiving physical therapy at the time of the study
• Unable to attend all sessions of study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Guitar then physical therapy; Subjects will learn classical guitar then have physical therapy sessions.	Other: Guitar then physical therapy; See arm/group descriptions
Active Comparator: Physical therapy then guitar; Subjects will have physical therapy sessions then learn classical guitar	Other: Physical therapy then guitar; See arm/group descriptions

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in the motor subscore of the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Motor Subscale	Change in Parkinson's disease rating scale, range 0-32, higher score means more severe Parkinson's disease symptoms	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Parkinson's disease Questionnaire-39	Change in scale for quality of life, range 0-100, higher means worse Parkinson's disease symptoms	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in percent of day with tremor	Change in percent of day with tremor from apple watch	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in Beck Depression Inventory-II	depression scale, range 0-63, higher score means worse depression	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in Apathy evaluation scale total score	Change in apathy scale, range 18-72, higher scores means worse apathy	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in American Parkinson's disease Association symptom tracker score	Change in Parkinson's disease symptom tracker, range 0-50, higher scores means worse symptoms	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks
Change in hours of sleep	Change in hours of sleep measured from apple watch data	Baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Washington
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Christopher Adams, MS, MD, University of Washington

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 6, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 12, 2023
• Study Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 6, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 14, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): June 26, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 26, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 14, 2023
• Last Verified: June 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Parkinson's disease; music-based therapy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Movement Disorders; Synucleinopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Parkinson Disease
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00017748

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No