Measurement of active abduction of metacarpophalangeal joints via electronic digital incinometric technique.

To define the usefulness of electronic digital inclinometric (EDI) method to measure active abduction of metacarpophalangeal joints and to determine the mean scores. A modified electronic digital inclinometric method which was specifically designed to measure range of joint movements was administered to metacarpophalangeal joints of 20 male and 21 female university students. Active abduction of each metacarpophalangeal joint of both dominant and non-dominant hands were measured and recorded separately. Results were presented as mean +/- standart deviation and statistical analysis of data was performed. First data obtained for Turkish people were as follows: 4.12 degrees for thumb, 41.9 degrees for index finger, 80.98 degrees for median finger (approximately twice of others as it was the sum of radial and ulnar abductions), 41.57 degrees for ring finger and 48.53 degrees for little finger. Electronic digital inclinometer was found to be safe, practical and useful in the measurement of active movement ranges of metacarpophalangeal joints.