Fine Motor Manipulation Research Articles

Pinch Strength Measurements in Adolescents With Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative disease with typical onset between 20 and 50 years of age. An increase in MS cases has been found in the adolescent US population. Adolescents require fine motor manipulation skills for their functional and academic performance. Deficits in the major components of manipulation skills may result in insufficient function. This study examined the 2-point, 3-point, and lateral pinch strength of adolescents diagnosed as having MS. Seventy-four adolescents, 37 with a diagnosis of relapsing-remitting MS and a control group of 37 age-matched peers, participated in this study. Data on 2-point, 3-point, and lateral pinch strength in both hands were collected using a pinch meter. Analyses of covariance were used to describe differences across the 2 groups, and effect sizes (Cohen d) were calculated by finding the mean difference between the study groups divided by the pooled SD. A significant difference was found in the 2-point pinch strength of the right hand of participants with pediatric MS compared with age- and sex-matched control participants. There were no significant differences in 2-point pinch strength of the left hand or in 3-point or lateral pinch strength of the right and left hands. Pinch grasp strength was differentially affected in adolescents with MS. Pinch strength should be assessed and considered in adolescents with MS for a better understanding of their functional performance of fine motor tasks in activities of daily living and academics.

Development and test-retest reliability assessment of a low-cost, 3D printed tool for assessing different aspects of hand dexterity

Hand dexterity assessments related to fine motor movements are routinely administered in clinical settings to ascertain an individual's hand function. However, to perform a detailed assessment multiple devices are needed which can be time-consuming and costly to administer. We designed and assessed the test-retest reliability of a 3D printed dexterity device in a cohort of healthy young adults and community-dwelling older adults. This study examines the reliability of the device, association between perceived fine motor gripping and manipulation dexterity components, and dominant hand outperformance during both tasks. Test-retest study of a clinical measurement tool. A convenience sample of thirty-six healthy community-dwelling older and young adults was included in our study. The device was used to collect data at two testing sessions to establish test-retest reliability. Fine motor manipulation dexterity was assessed by lifting notched pegs over a vertical barrier and inserting them into randomly oriented holes sequentially. Fine motor gripping dexterity was assessed by taking these notched pegs out of the holes, lifting them over the barrier and dropping them into a large container. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)2,1 showed good to excellent test-retest reliability on the dominant and nondominant hands when using the device. Only modest association was found within-hand for the gripping versus manipulation dexterity tests. The between-hand motor gripping dexterity test demonstrated a strong association; however, between-hand the motor manipulation dexterity test was only moderately associated. The device was reliable, discriminated between the motor gripping and motor manipulating dexterity tasks, and was sensitive to handedness during the motor manipulating dexterity task. It shows promise as a hand dexterity assessment device which may provide efficiency and cost advantages. It is freely available via http://www.rehabtools.org/dexterity.html.

Changes in Posture and Interactive Behaviors as Infants Progress From Sitting to Walking: A Longitudinal Study.

This longitudinal study assessed how infants and mothers used different postures and modulated their interactions with their surroundings as the infants progressed from sitting to walking. Thirteen infants and their mothers were observed biweekly throughout this developmental period during 10 min laboratory free-play sessions. For every session, we tracked the range of postures mothers and infants produced (e.g., sitting, kneeling, and standing), we assessed the type of interactions they naturally engaged in (no interactions, passive involvement, fine motor manipulation, or gross motor activity), and documented all target transitions. During the crawling transition period, when infants used sitting postures, they engaged mainly in fine motor manipulations of targets and often maintained their activity on the same target. As infants became mobile, their rate of fine motor manipulation declined during sitting but increased while kneeling/squatting. During the walking transition, their interactions with targets became more passive, particularly when sitting and standing, but they also engaged in greater gross motor activity while continuing to use squatting/kneeling postures for fine motor manipulations. The walking period was also marked by an increase in target changes and more frequent posture changes during object interactions. Throughout this developmental period, mothers produced mainly no or passive activity during sitting, kneeling/squatting, and standing. As expected, during this developmental span, infants used their body in increasingly varied ways to explore and interact with their environment, but more importantly, progression in posture variations significantly altered how infants manually interacted with their surrounding world.

Design of a Haptic-Gripper Virtual Reality System (Hg) for Analyzing Fine Motor Behaviors in Children with Autism

Fine motor skills, including grasping, manipulating, and reaching for objects, are a documented weakness for many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). However, relatively less research has attempted to address these motor deficits, especially by taking advantage of advanced technology. To explore potential mechanisms for expanding accessibility to fine motor intervention for people with ASD, we present the design and implementation of a feasibility study of a novel Haptic-Gripper Virtual Reality System (Hg). Hg is capable of providing analysis and practice opportunities of fine motor skills in an adaptive and low-cost virtual environment with real-time auditory, visual, and haptic feedback. The Haptic Gripper in Hg can detect a user's grip force and hand location and provide haptic feedback to guide hand movement and grip control while completing several simple and engaging virtual fine motor tasks. We conducted a feasibility study with six children with ASD and six typically developing (TD) children and found that participants were interested in using the Haptic Gripper and could quickly get used to the system. Although the results are preliminary and limited, we observed medium to strong correlations between the proposed fine motor skill metrics and the scores achieved with a standardized fine motor skill test and improvements of participants in accuracy and steadiness of movement and force control. This study provides important guidance for future investigations of the Hg's potential for assessing and improving fine motor manipulation skills.

Different modulation of short- and long-latency interhemispheric inhibition from active to resting primary motor cortex during a fine-motor manipulation task.

Performing a complex unimanual motor task markedly increases activation not only in the hemisphere contralateral to the task‐performing hand but also in the ipsilateral hemisphere. Transcranial magnetic stimulation studies showed increased motor evoked potential amplitude recorded in resting hand muscles contralateral to the task‐performing hand during a unimanual motor task, and transcallosal inputs from the active hemisphere have been suggested to have responsibilities for this phenomenon. In the present study, we used a well‐established double‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation paradigm to measure two phases of interhemispheric inhibition from the active to the resting primary motor cortex during the performance of a complex unimanual motor task. Two different unimanual motor tasks were carried out: a fine‐motor manipulation task (using chopsticks to pick up, transport, and release glass balls) as a complex task and a pseudo fine‐motor manipulation task as a control task (mimicking the fine‐motor manipulation task without using chopsticks and picking glass balls). We found increased short‐latency interhemispheric inhibition and decreased long‐latency interhemispheric inhibition from the active to the resting primary motor cortex during the fine‐motor manipulation task. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate different modulation of two phases of interhemispheric inhibition from the active to the resting primary motor cortex during the performance of a complex unimanual motor task. The different modulation of short‐ and long‐latency interhemispheric inhibition may suggest that two phases of interhemispheric inhibition are implemented in distinct circuits with different functional meaning.

Changes in interhemispheric inhibition from active to resting primary motor cortex during a fine-motor manipulation task

The effect of performance of a sensorimotor task on the interhemispheric inhibition (IHI) induced from the active primary motor cortex (M1) to the resting M1 was examined in 10 right-handed subjects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed to produce motor evoked potentials (MEP) in the resting right (Rt)-first dorsal interosseous (FDI). For the paired-TMS paradigm, a conditioning stimulus (CS) was delivered to the Rt-M1, and its intensity was adjusted from 0.6 to 1.4 times the resting motor threshold of the MEP in the left (Lt)-FDI in 0.2 steps. The test stimulus was delivered to the Lt-M1, and its intensity was adjusted to evoke similar MEP amplitudes in the Rt-FDI among the task conditions. The interstimulus interval was fixed at 10 ms. As a sensorimotor task, a fine-motor manipulation (FM) task (using chopsticks to pick up, transport, and release glass balls) was adopted. In addition, an isometric abduction (IA) task was also performed as a control task. These tasks were carried out with the left hand. The IHI from the active to the resting M1 observed during the FM task was markedly increased compared with that induced during the IA task, and this effect was not dependent on the MEP amplitude evoked in the active Lt-FDI by the CS. The present findings suggest that the increased IHI from the active to the resting M1 observed during the FM task was linked to reductions in the activity of the ipsilateral intracortical inhibitory circuit, as we reported previously.

PTMS12 Effect of a fine-motor manipulation task on interhemispheric inhibition from active to resting motor cortex

PTMS12 Effect of a fine-motor manipulation task on interhemispheric inhibition from active to resting motor cortex

Increased excitability and reduced intracortical inhibition in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex during a fine-motor manipulation task

The effects of a sensorimotor task on ipsilateral primary motor cortex (ipsi-M1) excitability mediated via the transcallosal pathway, including the changes in short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF), were examined in ten right-handed subjects. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was delivered to evoke a motor evoked potential (MEP) from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI). The test-TMS intensity was adjusted to around 120% of the resting motor threshold (rMT). For the paired-pulse TMS paradigm, the conditioning-TMS intensity was set to 80% of the rMT, and the interstimulus interval was fixed at 3ms for SICI and 12ms for ICF. As a sensorimotor task, a fine-motor manipulation (FM) task (using chopsticks to pick up, transport, and release glass balls) was adopted. In addition, a pseudo-FM (pFM) task was also performed as a control task. These tasks were carried out using each hand separately. The MEPs evoked during the FM task were markedly increased compared with those evoked during the pFM task, and these effects were not dependent on the electromyographic activity of the FDI performing these tasks. SICI was significantly decreased during the FM task, indicating disinhibition of the ipsi-M1, and these effects were also noted when the subjects used their non-dominant hand. The present findings suggest that the differences between the effects of the FM and pFM tasks on ipsi-M1 excitability were caused by their property.

Manipulation of Objects with and without the Use of the Index Finger: Implications for Digital Amputations

Study Design Clinical Measurement. Purpose To evaluate changes in temporal and amplitude movement accuracy with tasks requiring fine motor manipulation with and without the use of the index finger (WIF). Participants Twenty right-handed participants (10 males, 10 females, aged 24–47 years) were recruited. Methods Three objects, ranging in weight and size, that required the use of 2 or 3 fingers were selected for this study. Motor performance was quantified during manipulation of a pen, cork, and wine glass using a computerized visual guided tracking task. The miniBird (Ascension Technology, Burlington, VT, USA) miniature motion tracking sensor was attached to each object to measure and record the 3D linear and angular motion. Results Task performance and temporal accuracy of the pen task in the normal condition was more accurate ( P = .033). During the WIF condition there was significantly more motion performing the wine task ( P < .001). Conclusions The protocol directly measures the ability of the hand to coordinate movement in response to a visual tracking target. Both temporal accuracy and amplitude consistency can be objectively evaluated. The current study evaluates the ability of the hand to manipulate 3 objects used in fine motor manipulation, using motion analysis and visual tracking. Level of Evidence 3b.

Objective Evaluation of Fine Motor Manipulation—A New Clinical Tool

A new performance-based tool has been developed to accurately and precisely evaluate finger/hand function during manipulation of any object, independent of geometric and surface properties. The objectives of this study were to show test–retest reliability and evaluate criterion validity. Twenty healthy, right-handed participants were recruited. Three objects ranging in weight and size, requiring two or three fingers, were instrumented with a motion sensor that tracked 3D linear/angular motion. A computerized visual-guided tracking task was used to quantify motor performance during object manipulation. Two testing periods, one week apart were performed to evaluate test–retest reliability. Criterion validity was assessed by comparing performance with this tool to performance on commonly used clinical dexterity tests. Global performance, temporal accuracy, and amplitude consistency during manipulation of the objects compared with the reference waveform were highly reliable on the two testing occasions. Low-moderate correlations between the clinical dexterity tests and the task protocol indicate that different aspects of hand function were measured. The task protocol directly measures the ability of the hand to coordinate movement in response to a visual tracking target. Providing effective and objective ways to evaluate manual dexterity and hand function is a critical part of evidence-based practice.

The effects of fine motor movement and tactile stimulation on the math problem solving of students with attention problems

This study evaluated the effectiveness of fine motor physical activity with tactile stimulation during two conditions of math problem solving, visual and auditory. Eight 4th and 5th grade students with attention problems participated. Using an alternating treatments design, students solved as many math story problems as they could, presented on worksheets or verbally during two conditions, with and without tactile stimulation during 20 min. Motor behavior, recorded from videotape, and number of correctly completed word problems were measured. Results suggest that fine motor manipulation of a tactile stimulation object reduced excessive motor movement and increased task completion of students with attention problems.

Sympathetic mouth movements accompanying fine motor movements in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) with implications toward the evolution of language

Some theories concerning the evolution of language include a gestural stage prior to glottogenesis. These theories propose that connections observed between fine motor movements of the hands and mouth may be responsible for the transfer of human language from one that was primarily gestural to one that is spoken. The fine motor manipulation of objects by five captive chimpanzees was examined to determine whether sympathetic mouth movements accompanied fine and gross motor movements. Sympathetic mouth movements were observed significantly more often during fine motor manipulation for all five participants. A significant increase in the presence of sympathetic mouth movements was observed in behaviors along a continuum of precision of manipulation from precision grip to gross motor manipulation without prehension. The results are discussed in regard to current theories of language evolution and neurological processes. [Neurol Res 2002; 24: 174-180]