Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
Department of Neurosurgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Jun 26;23(13):5924. doi: 10.3390/s23135924.
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 ( < 0.0001) and 0.88 ( < 0.0001), respectively, suggesting MVC measurements were consistent over time. However, individuation score ICCs, were poorer (left index ICC 0.41, = 0.28; right index ICC -0.02, = 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.
拇指与其他手指之间的力量调节，即等长捏合辨别力，对日常任务至关重要，但可能因中枢或周围神经系统损伤而受损。由于手术和康复努力通常侧重于恢复这种灵巧的能力，因此我们需要能够始终如一地在不同时间和不同场所量化捏合辨别力。目前，这种评估没有标准化的指标。因此，我们测试了是否可以使用市售的柔性压力传感器网格（Tekscan F-Socket [Tekscan Inc.，美国马萨诸塞州诺伍德]）在两次就诊时重复测量二十名右利手健康志愿者的等长捏合辨别力和最大自主收缩（MVC）。我们根据先前的文献开发了一种新的方程，用于计算等长辨别力评分，该评分量化了指示手指在网格上产生的力的百分比。左手和右手的 MVC 组内相关系数（ICC）分别为 0.86（<0.0001）和 0.88（<0.0001），表明 MVC 测量值在时间上是一致的。然而，辨别力评分的 ICC 较差（左手食指 ICC 为 0.41，<0.0001），右手食指 ICC 为 -0.02，<0.0001），表明该方案不能提供足够可重复的辨别力评估。这些数据支持需要开发专门用于可重复和客观的等长手部灵巧性评估的新型平台。
