Post-traumatic hand rehabilitation using a powered metacarpal-phalangeal exoskeleton: a pilot study.
Emanuele Peperoni, Emilio Trigili, Eugenio Capotorti and 10 others
PMID 39702346WHAT IT FOUND
In five people with hand injuries, a powered finger exoskeleton did not show a confirmed increase in therapist-measured finger joint motion after one session.
Key findings
01Therapist-measured passive and active MCP joint range of motion increased by 5.88% and 11.11%, but neither change reached statistical significance (p=0.06).
02The exoskeleton and therapist goniometer measurements did not differ significantly in the same phase, with p values of 0.06, 0.31, 0.63 and 0.81.
03One device malfunction occurred, a broken transmission cable, but it had no consequences for patient safety because the device safety measures functioned correctly.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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
Only five participants were analysed, and one of six recruited was excluded when a transmission cable broke. The study used a single session and no control group, so it cannot show that the exoskeleton exceeded regular rehabilitation performance. The main therapist-measured range of motion changes were not statistically significant. Device measurements were not perfectly aligned with goniometer measurements, with a bias of 4.70 degrees and limits of agreement from -22.91 to 32.31 degrees. Participants had different hand injuries and different times after injury, so the result may not apply to one specific injury type or stage. The exercise sequence was fixed for all participants, with only initial range of motion used to set the exercises. No follow-up, retention effects or functional activity outcomes were measured.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione Contro Gli Infortuni sul Lavoro. The article is listed as Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 5.88% and 11.11% increases as evidence that the exoskeleton improves hand motion. The therapist-measured primary range of motion changes were not statistically significant (p=0.06), the study had no control group, and only five participants were analysed.