Classical Guitar for Parkinson's Disease

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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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.

Detailed Description
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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.

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

Conditions
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Parkinson Disease

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Guitar then physical therapy
* Other: Physical therapy then guitar


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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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

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 50 Years
Maximum Age: 90 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

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


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Active Comparator: Guitar then physical therapy<br>Subjects will learn classical guitar then have physical therapy sessions. | Other: Guitar then physical therapy<br>* See arm/group descriptions<br>|
| Active Comparator: Physical therapy then guitar<br>Subjects will have physical therapy sessions then learn classical guitar | Other: Physical therapy then guitar<br>* See arm/group descriptions<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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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 | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Parkinson's disease, music-based therapy