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Quantifying Hand Strength and Isometric Pinch Individuation Using a Flexible Pressure Sensor Grid. Sensors (Basel) 2023 Jun 26;23(13)

Date

07/14/2023

Pubmed ID

37447773

Pubmed Central ID

PMC10346473

DOI

10.3390/s23135924

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85164844180 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)

Abstract

Modulating force between the thumb and another digit, or isometric pinch individuation, is critical for daily tasks and can be impaired due to central or peripheral nervous system injury. Because surgical and rehabilitative efforts often focus on regaining this dexterous ability, we need to be able to consistently quantify pinch individuation across time and facilities. Currently, a standardized metric for such an assessment does not exist. Therefore, we tested whether we could use a commercially available flexible pressure sensor grid (Tekscan F-Socket [Tekscan Inc., Norwood, MA, USA]) to repeatedly measure isometric pinch individuation and maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) in twenty right-handed healthy volunteers at two visits. We developed a novel equation informed by the prior literature to calculate isometric individuation scores that quantified percentage of force on the grid generated by the indicated digit. MVC intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) for the left and right hands were 0.86 (p < 0.0001) and 0.88 (p < 0.0001), respectively, suggesting MVC measurements were consistent over time. However, individuation score ICCs, were poorer (left index ICC 0.41, p = 0.28; right index ICC -0.02, p = 0.51), indicating that this protocol did not provide a sufficiently repeatable individuation assessment. These data support the need to develop novel platforms specifically for repeatable and objective isometric hand dexterity assessments.

Author List

Conway BJ, Taquet L, Boerger TF, Young SC, Krucoff KB, Schmit BD, Krucoff MO

Authors

Timothy F. Boerger LAT Postdoctoral Fellow in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Max O. Krucoff MD Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Brian Schmit PhD Professor in the Biomedical Engineering department at Marquette University




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Fingers
Hand
Hand Strength
Humans
Individuation
Isometric Contraction
Thumb