Development and assessment of a hand assist device: GRIPIT.
Byungchul Kim, Hyunki In, Dae-Young Lee and 1 others
PMID 28222759WHAT IT FOUND
Four people with spinal cord injury wrote with GRIPIT, a manual glove that tightens a wire to form a tripod grasp.
They reported better writing sensation, less fatigue and clearer letters than with a penholder or their own hand, but found it fiddly to put on.
Key findings
01Participants rated GRIPIT higher than a conventional penholder and unaided handwriting for writing sensation, fatigability and legibility, and rated it lower for difficulty of use.
02On accuracy tasks, drawing with GRIPIT produced lower error than drawing with a penholder or by hand, though one tracing task did not reach significance.
03GRIPIT gave a significantly better force-to-angle ratio, meaning the pen shook less while writing.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only four participants, all men, all with C5 or C6 injuries and complete hand paralysis. No blinding, randomisation or control group; each person served as their own control. The penholder and unaided handwriting performed no differently, so the comparison is really against a null baseline. One accuracy result did not reach significance (p = 0.087). Participants found the device complicated to put on and use, which may limit real-world adoption.
Declared interests
Funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy. No author conflicts declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude GRIPIT is proven effective. Four participants is not a clinical trial, the device was not randomised against a true control, and the authors themselves flag the small sample as a limitation.