Hand Dexterity Impairment in Patients with Cervical Myelopathy: A New Quantitative Assessment Using a Natural Prehension Movement

Behavioural Neurology, 2018 · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/5138234 · Published: July 4, 2018

Simple Explanation

Cervical myelopathy (CM) is a condition that can reduce hand dexterity due to spinal cord compression. The study aimed to objectively evaluate hand dexterity impairment in patients with CM using a natural prehension movement (reaching for and grasping objects). Patients with CM and a control group were asked to grasp objects with different surface textures. The researchers then analyzed their movements, grip strength, and compared results with subjective clinical scores. The study found that CM patients showed differences in their reach-to-grasp movements and grip force compared to controls, suggesting that this method could be useful for objectively assessing hand dexterity impairment in CM patients.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

23 patients with cervical myelopathy and 30 age-matched controls

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
Preoperative patients exhibited significantly greater grip aperture during reach-to-grasp movements and weaker grip force than controls when lifting the most slippery object (silk).
2
Patients immediately after surgery tended to show improvements in the JOA score and in reaction time and movement time with respect to reaching movements.
3
Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that some parameters of the prehension task could successfully predict subjective evaluations of dexterous hand movements based on JOA scores.

Research Summary

This study introduces a novel quantitative assessment method using natural prehension movements to evaluate hand dexterity impairment in patients with cervical myelopathy (CM). The study compared preoperative CM patients, postoperative CM patients, and healthy controls, finding significant differences in grip aperture, grip force modulation, reaction time, and movement time during a reach-to-grasp task. The results suggest that this prehension movement analysis has the potential to objectively evaluate hand dexterity impairment in CM patients and could complement existing subjective assessment methods like the JOA score.

Practical Implications

Diagnostic Tool

The prehension task can serve as an objective tool to diagnose and quantify hand dexterity impairment in CM patients.

Treatment Monitoring

The assessment can be used to monitor the effectiveness of surgical or rehabilitative interventions by tracking changes in prehension movement parameters.

Personalized Rehabilitation

The detailed analysis of movement components can help tailor rehabilitation programs to address specific deficits in reaching, grasping, or grip force modulation.

Study Limitations

1
The method may not be applicable to patients with severe hand dexterity impairments who cannot complete the task.
2
The study did not follow patients over a long-term period to evaluate long-term recovery.
3
The order of surface materials was fixed, which might have introduced bias.

Your Feedback

Was this summary helpful?

Back to Neurology