An electromechanical testing device for assessment of hand motor function

Author

Byers, Gerry J. ; Goldstein, Barry S. ; Sanders, Joan E.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Mech. Eng., Washington Univ., Seattle, WA, USA

Volume

6

Issue

1

fYear

1998

fDate

3/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

88

Lastpage

94

Abstract

Instrumentation was designed and constructed to assess the strength and function of the intrinsic muscles of the index and long fingers of the hand. The device consisted of two beams instrumented with strain gages, signal conditioners, and a microprocessor-based embedded controller. A study conducted on four weak spinal cord injury (SCI), three nonweak SCI, and 21 control subjects demonstrated a trend of reduced maximum pinching force between the index and long fingers in weak SCI subjects compared with the other two groups. Weak SCI subjects also demonstrated a significantly slower rapid alternating movement speed of the index finger compared with the other two groups. The instrument has potential use as a clinical tool for quantitative evaluation of the progression of hand motor dysfunction

Keywords

automatic test equipment; biomechanics; biomedical equipment; controllers; force measurement; medical signal processing; muscle; strain gauges; velocity measurement; clinical tool; electromechanical testing device; hand motor dysfunction progression; hand motor function assessment; index finger; instrumented beams; long finger; medical instrumentation; microprocessor-based embedded controller; nonweak spinal cord injury; rapid alternating movement speed; reduced maximum pinching force; secondary disability; signal conditioners; syringomyelia; weak spinal cord injury; Capacitive sensors; Extremities; Fingers; Instruments; Muscles; Spinal cord; Spinal cord injury; Strain control; Testing; Wheelchairs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1063-6528

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/86.662624

Filename

662624