Rehabilitation of hand function after spinal cord injury using a novel handgrip device: a pilot study.
Haydn Hoffman, Tiffany Sierro, Tianyi Niu and 5 others
PMID 28327161WHAT IT FOUND
Grip strength and independence scores did not show clear improvement, but task accuracy rose from 9.01% to 21.7%.
The weekly handgrip protocol was feasible in 17 chronic cervical SCI subjects.
Key findings
01Average tracking accuracy increased from 9.01% at week one to 21.7% at week 20, and this change was statistically significant (p = 0.02).
02Average maximum voluntary contraction increased from 3.78 N to 6.14 N at week 20, but the change was not statistically significant (p = 0.42).
03Average SCIM independence score changed from 37.18 at week 1 to 38.0 at the end of the study, and neither motor complete nor motor incomplete subgroups showed significant improvement.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only 17 subjects were analysed, and the paper states that generalisation is limited by the small sample size. There was no comparison group described, so it is not possible to tell whether the changes were due to the protocol or the passage of time. The protocol combined maximum voluntary contraction testing, calibrated sinusoidal tracking, and real-time visual feedback, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The tracking task speed had not previously been validated, and older patients' performance may have been limited by age-related deficits in reaction time. Improved tracking accuracy did not translate into significant changes in maximum voluntary contraction or SCIM independence.
Declared interests
The paper reports funding from the National Institutes of Health. No other conflicts are stated in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read improved tracking accuracy as improved grip strength or daily independence. Maximum voluntary contraction and SCIM scores did not show clear gains, and this was a small single-cohort pilot.