Motion-plane dependency of the range of dart throw motion and the effects of tendon action due to finger extrinsic muscles during the motion.
Masahiro Mitsukane, Noboru Sekiya, Arinori Kamono and 1 others
PMID 29581651WHAT IT FOUND
The wrist dart-throw path is not a single fixed range; it changes with forearm angle, often largest near the middle angle.
Grip thickness affected motion only at some angles, so finger tendon action may matter but was inconsistent.
Key findings
01The total range of dart-throw motion depended on the forearm angle, and it was largest at a moderate angle.
02Grip shaft size showed effects on total range at 60° and 75° in all subjects, at 75° in men, and at 30° in women.
03Total range was more reliable than radial-extension or ulnar-flexion; with the thin grip shaft, total-range intraclass correlations were 0.81 to 0.94 for all planes except θ=90°, where the table reports 0.55.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study used healthy young people only (18 to 20 years), and the authors say elderly persons or those with disabilities were not included, so it does not show what happens in patients. Reliability reporting is inconsistent: the methods mention 15 healthy subjects, with 11 included in experiment 1 and reliability, while the reliability table reports n=15. Measurements were active only; the authors note passive range may need additional artifices and yield different results. At θ=90°, the neutral position cannot be defined in their method, and measurement may be inappropriate near that angle. Grip shaft effects were incomplete: the overall grip shaft main effect for total range was not significant (p=0.14), and tendon action was not seen at 45°. The device measures the tilt of an external block, not direct wrist bone-to-bone joint configuration.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that measuring dart-throw motion improves patient care. The study measured healthy young adults, not patients, and the authors say clinical feasibility should be examined.