Analyzing finger interdependencies during the Purdue Pegboard Test and comparative activities of daily living.

STUDY DESIGN

Bench and cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION

Information obtained from dexterity tests is an important component of a comprehensive examination of the hand.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

To analyze and compare finger interdependencies during the performance of the Purdue Pegboard Test (PBT) and comparative daily tasks.

METHODS

A method based on the optoelectronic kinematic analysis of the precision grip style and on the calculation of cross-correlation coefficients between relevant joint angles, which provided measures of the degree of finger coordination, was conducted on 10 healthy participants performing the PBT and 2 comparative daily living tasks.

RESULTS

Daily tasks showed identifiable interdependencies patterns between the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers involved in the grip. Tasks related to activities of daily living resulted in significantly higher cross-correlation coefficients across subjects and movements during the formation and manipulation phases of the tasks (0.7-0.9), whereas the release stage produced significantly lower movement correlation values (0.3-0.7). Contrarily, the formation and manipulation stages of the PBT showed low finger correlation across most subjects (0.2-0.6), whereas the release stage resulted in the highest values for all relevant movements (0.65-0.9).

DISCUSSION

Interdependencies patterns were consistent for the activities of daily living but differ from the patterns observed from the PBT.

CONCLUSIONS

The PBT does not compare well with the whole range of finger movements that account for hand performance during daily tasks.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Not applicable.