Design and test of an automated version of the modified Jebsen test of hand function using Microsoft Kinect.
Daniel Simonsen, Ida F Nielsen, Erika G Spaich and 1 others
PMID 28464927WHAT IT FOUND
In 11 stroke patients, a Kinect camera timed the Modified Jebsen hand test and agreed with video review better than a therapist did.
It may help repeat hand-function tests consistently, but does not show recovery.
Key findings
01The Kinect timings agreed with ground truth better than therapist timings for start and total times.
02The spread of differences between therapist and Kinect timings was 0.51 to 2.71 seconds.
03Repeating the test in the same session produced a practice effect: Card Turning was significantly shorter by all three methods for the most affected hand and by all methods for the least affected hand.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 11 chronic stroke subjects aged 50 to 80 years were tested, so results may not apply to other stroke stages or hand deficits. All testing was done at a local rehabilitation unit with a therapist present, so unsupervised home use was not tested. The test was repeated twice in the same session, and this produced a practice effect that may overstate improvement. The Kinect was fixed approximately 1200 mm above the table, and occlusion, lighting and sensor placement could affect timings. The study compared timing methods only; it did not test whether the automated test improves patient outcomes or training decisions.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Teknologi og Produktion, Det Frie Forskningsråd. The paper does not give another conflict-of-interest declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this Kinect system is ready for unsupervised home testing or that it improves patient outcomes. It was tested in 11 supervised assessments in a rehabilitation unit and only compared timing methods.