TOPIC

Hand therapy research

Everything we have read on hand therapy. Each paper is summarised from the full article rather than its abstract, so the limitations are in there too, and the funding wherever the paper declares it.

1,303 PAPERS · PAGE 11 OF 27 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTQualitative2021Clinicians' perceptions of a potential wearable device for capturing upper limb activity post-stroke: a qualitative focus group study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationTherapists said a wearable sensor must capture both how much and how well a patient uses their arm, not just repetition counts. They saw value in using it outside clinic hours for self-monitoring and motivation, provided the device is easy to set up and fits individual client needs.
• PTOTCohort2021Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Approaches Plateau Around Three to Six Weeks Post-stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairUpper limb use in daily life plateaued 3-6 weeks post-stroke, before impairment or capacity stabilized. This suggests motor habits form early. Clinicians should assess actual arm use, not just clinical test scores, to guide timely behavioral interventions.
• PTOTPilot2021Home-based self-help telerehabilitation of the upper limb assisted by an electromyography-driven wrist/hand exoneuromusculoskeleton after stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationEleven chronic stroke survivors used a home EMG-driven wrist/hand exoskeleton for 20 sessions. All completed training with no adverse events. Motor control, muscle coordination, and movement smoothness improved significantly, but daily activity independence scores did not change.
• OTOther2021Understanding the Relationship Between Patient-Reported Function and Actual Function in the Upper Limb Prosthesis User Population: A Preliminary Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationQuestionnaire scores did not track hands-on task scores in 61 upper-limb prosthesis users after accounting for amputation level and prosthesis type. Reported difficulty may not show how well a prosthesis works in daily tasks.
• PTOTPilot2021Electromyography Recordings Detect Muscle Activity Before Observable Contractions in Acute Stroke Care.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationWireless EMG sensors detected muscle contractions in all 21 acute stroke patients, including 11 with no observable arm movement. In that group, most contractions had no movement, and whether they were voluntary is unknown.
• PTOTOther2021Associations between upper extremity functioning and kinematics in people with spinal cord injury.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 25 people with spinal cord injury, how they drank from a cup tracked closely with clinical arm tests. Wrist position, slow movement, and choppy movement explained most test scores; hand position sense added useful information.
• PTOTRCT2021Repetitive Peripheral Sensory Stimulation as an Add-On Intervention for Upper Limb Rehabilitation in Stroke: A Randomized Trial.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairAdding sensory stimulation to electrical stimulation, task training, and home practice did not improve primary upper-limb motor function more than sham. Both groups improved on the Wolf Motor Function Test.
• OTOther2021Enabling visually impaired people to learn three-dimensional tactile graphics with a 3DOF haptic mouse.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCombining elevation and inclination cues on a tactile mouse improved object matching for visually impaired users, though they remained less accurate than sighted controls. Inclination alone caused the highest mental workload and poor performance. Visually impaired users underestimated object size; sighted users overestimated it.
• PTOTCohort2022Failure to Compensate: Patients With Nerve Injury Use Their Injured Dominant Hand, Even When Their Nondominant Is More Dexterous.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationMost patients with dominant hand nerve injury continued using that hand, even when their non-dominant hand was more dexterous. This suggests therapists should explicitly assess and train non-dominant hand use for patients whose dominant hand function is permanently impaired.
• PTOTPilot2021Visual feedback improves movement illusions induced by tendon vibration after chronic stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationShowing a moving virtual hand on a screen made people with chronic stroke feel stronger illusions of movement when their wrist tendon was vibrated. This visual feedback worked even for those with severe motor deficits, suggesting it could help drive brain plasticity during rehabilitation.
• PTOTOther2021Application of Inertial Measurement Units and Machine Learning Classification in Cerebral Palsy: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesCustom wrist sensors plus machine learning separated movement samples from children with CP from typical movement samples on a stop sign task, correctly classifying 85.75% of older samples and 88.13% of younger samples. This is a measurement method, not proof that therapy works.
• PTOTCohort2022The spasticity-related quality of life 6-dimensions instrument in upper-limb spasticity: Part I Development and responsiveness.Journal of rehabilitation medicineThe SQoL-6D questionnaire tracked upper-limb spasticity quality of life over 8 weeks. Total scores improved more when patients or clinicians judged routine care helpful, so therapists can use it to track patient-reported change.
• OTCase Series2022Effect of multi-grip myoelectric prosthetic hands on daily activities, pain-related disability and prosthesis use compared with single-grip myoelectric prostheses: A single-case study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineExperienced single-grip prosthesis users who switched to a multi-grip hand with occupational therapist-led training reported better daily-activity performance and satisfaction, less pain-related disability in those with baseline pain, and increased wearing time. Control skill did not clearly improve.
• PTOTSystematic Review2021Resting motor threshold in the course of hand motor recovery after stroke: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHigh resting motor threshold in the stroke-affected hemisphere tracks with severe hand disability. As hand function recovers, this threshold drops. The unaffected hemisphere's threshold showed no consistent link to impairment or recovery.
• PTOTPilot2021A novel upper-limb tracking system in a virtual environment for stroke rehabilitation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStroke patients using a new virtual reality system that tracks the entire arm and all fingers showed greater upper-limb motor improvement than those using conventional therapy or a hand-only tracking system. The full-body tracking also created a stronger sense of ownership over the virtual arm.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2021European evidence-based recommendations for clinical assessment of upper limb in neurorehabilitation (CAULIN): data synthesis from systematic reviews, clinical practice guidelines and expert consensus.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFor neurological upper limb rehabilitation, CAULIN recommends Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity and Action Research Arm Test as core assessments, with added measures for patient-reported ability, movement quality, and real-life arm use.
• PTOTRCT2022Concurrent validity of an immersive virtual reality version of the Box and Block Test to assess manual dexterity among patients with stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA virtual reality version of the Box and Block Test correlates strongly with the physical test for stroke patients. Scores are lower in VR, so do not mix the two. It offers objective movement data and high usability for home monitoring.
• PTOTRCT2021Home-based (virtual) rehabilitation improves motor and cognitive function for stroke patients: a randomized controlled trial of the Elements (EDNA-22) system.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHome EDNA tablet training plus usual rehab improved more affected-hand Box and Block scores and cognitive screening scores more than home GRASP plus usual rehab in a small stroke trial.
• PTOTCase-Control2021Bilateral actigraphic quantification of upper extremity movement in hemiparetic children with perinatal stroke: a case control study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationBilateral wrist actigraphy distinguished hemiparetic children from typically developing peers in real life, with asymmetry scores correlating modestly with clinical tests. The strongest links appeared during sleep and rest, not active play, suggesting standard clinic measures do not fully capture daily movement patterns.
• PTOTOther2022Characterization of stroke-related upper limb motor impairments across various upper limb activities by use of kinematic core set measures.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationWearable movement analysis showed gesture and grasp tasks differ in stroke-related upper limb motion. Moderate impairment made movements slower and less smooth across daily tasks. Task choice changes what movement measures mean.
• PTOTSLPPilot2021Physiotherapy using a free-standing robotic exoskeleton for patients with spinal cord injury: a feasibility study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationThree patients with severe spinal cord injury completed 12 weeks of free-standing exoskeleton therapy. No adverse events occurred, and all wanted to continue. Functional outcomes were inconsistent: one improved, one declined, and one showed no change on the primary measure.
• PTOTOther2022Safety and efficacy of repeat long-term incobotulinumtoxinA treatment for lower limb or combined upper/lower limb spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineRepeat incobotulinumtoxinA injections for lower limb spasticity in children with cerebral palsy were well-tolerated over four to six cycles. Muscle tone improved consistently, and gross motor scores rose by 4.8 points at the final visit. Most adverse events were mild respiratory infections.
• PTOTSystematic Review2021Relationship Between Sensibility Tests and Functional Outcomes in Patients With Traumatic Upper Limb Nerve Injuries: A Systematic Review.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationSemmes-Weinstein monofilament and Weinstein Enhanced Sensory Test scores consistently tracked with hand function, quality of life, and return-to-work status. Two-point discrimination results were inconsistent, so improved scores on that test do not reliably predict better daily function.
• PTOTCase Report2022Occupational and Physical Therapy Strategies for the Rehabilitation of COVID-19-Related Guillain-Barré Syndrome in the Long-term Acute Care Hospital Setting: Case Report.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesOne man with COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome regained the ability to walk and dress himself after intensive physical and occupational therapy. He also recovered vision and upper limb strength despite a concurrent leg fracture that forced him to stay non-weight-bearing for six weeks.
• PTOTRCT2022Peripheral magnetic theta burst stimulation to muscles can effectively reduce spasticity: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationApplying intermittent theta burst stimulation to spastic muscles for 8 sessions reduced muscle tone significantly more than sham. The active group saw a mean percent reduction in spasticity of 0.27 compared to 0.09 in the sham group. This suggests a potential alternative to Botulinum toxin.
• PTOTPilot2022Increasing motor cortex activation during grasping via novel robotic mirror hand therapy: a pilot fNIRS study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationRobotic mirror therapy produced stronger and more balanced brain activation in the motor cortex than standard mirror therapy or passive robotic movement in a small pilot. This suggests the robotic approach may better stimulate neural pathways, but functional recovery was not tested.
• PTOTOther2022Accuracy of Heart Rate Measurement by the Fitbit Charge 2 During Wheelchair Activities in People With Spinal Cord Injury: Instrument Validation Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesThe Fitbit Charge 2 is too inaccurate to trust for heart rate in people with spinal cord injury. It failed the standard accuracy limit for all activities. Errors were worst in those with high cervical lesions and during strength exercise. Use chest straps instead for clinical decisions.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022Quantifying Quality of Reaching Movements Longitudinally Post-Stroke: A Systematic Review.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairNo single movement metric reliably tracks true neurological recovery after stroke. Kinematic measures often improve while underlying weakness and loss of dexterity persist, meaning patients may regain function through compensation rather than restitution.
• OTOther2022Clinical utility of a pediatric hand exoskeleton: identifying users, practicability, and acceptance, and recommendations for design improvement.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 10 children and adolescents with upper-limb impairment, wearing PEXO improved assisted-hand use in a two-hour assessment (AHA median 55 to 68 of 100) but did not improve the Box and Block Test; donning needed help, and technical failures occurred.
• OTOther2022A parallel classification strategy to simultaneous control elbow, wrist, and hand movements.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA muscle-signal classifier identified simultaneous elbow, wrist, and hand movements more quickly and reliably than the usual classifier in healthy people wearing six sensors. Offline scores were similar. It was not tested in amputees or with a real prosthesis.
• PTOTCohort2022Assessment of changes in muscle mass, strength, and quality and activities of daily living in elderly stroke patients.International journal of rehabilitation research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Rehabilitationsforschung. Revue internationale de recherches de readaptationStroke patients improved activities of daily living over four weeks when muscle strength and muscle quality improved. Muscle mass did not track recovery and even tended to fall, so mass is a poor marker of rehabilitation progress.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022The diagnostic levels of evidence of instrumented devices for measuring viscoelastic joint properties and spasticity; a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationNo study showed that robotic devices improve patient care. The highest evidence level found was for basic comparisons, not diagnostic accuracy. Clinicians should not assume these tools are ready for routine practice or that they change outcomes.
• PTOTRCT2022A randomized clinical control study on the efficacy of three-dimensional upper limb robotic exoskeleton training in chronic stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationThe total upper limb Fugl-Meyer score did not improve more with robotic exoskeleton training than manual therapy in chronic stroke. Robotic training showed greater shoulder and elbow scores and faster bimanual task times on other measures.
• PTOTOther2022Towards functional robotic training: motor learning of dynamic tasks is enhanced by haptic rendering but hampered by arm weight support.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFeeling the forces of a virtual pendulum through a robot arm improved healthy people's learning and transfer of a dynamic task. Full arm weight support reduced learning, so assistance may need to be lowered or adapted.
• PTOTPilot2022Visually Induced Kinaesthetic Illusion Combined with Therapeutic Exercise for Patients with Chronic Stroke: A Pilot Study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineTen patients with chronic severe stroke improved finger movement, reduced wrist stiffness, and used their arm more after two weeks of visual illusion therapy followed by exercise. No control group means these gains cannot be attributed to the illusion alone.
• PTOTSystematic Review2022What is Known About Muscle Strength Reference Values for Adults Measured by Hand-Held Dynamometry: A Scoping Review.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationHand-held dynamometry lacks valid reference values for adult limb strength. Existing studies used inconsistent devices and protocols, and reported force instead of torque. Clinicians cannot currently compare patient scores against published norms to determine if strength is normal.
• PTOTOther2021What Are the Most Important Problems in Functioning Among Patients With Shoulder Pain? An Analysis of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale.Physical therapyPatients with shoulder pain reported problems mostly in activities and participation, not just body function. Secondary care patients reported significantly more issues with self-care and housework than those in primary care.
• PTOTCohort2021Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination Clinical Use to Recommend Therapist Assessment of Functional Hand Asymmetries.Pediatric physical therapy : the official publication of the Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical Therapy AssociationHINE asymmetry score 4 or higher in infants 3-12 months flagged infants for therapist HAI assessment. It caught all infants with a 3-point hand difference and correctly cleared 88% of those without that difference. For 2-point differences, it did not catch all infants.
• OTRCT2022Upper Limb Training with a Dynamic Hand Orthosis in Early Subacute Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Trial.Journal of rehabilitation medicineA dynamic hand orthosis worn for 30 min during 4 weeks of daily upper limb training did not improve arm and hand function more than training alone in 30 people after stroke.
• PTOTRCT2022Bimanual motor skill learning with robotics in chronic stroke: comparison between minimally impaired and moderately impaired patients, and healthy individuals.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationChronic stroke patients learned a complex bimanual robotic task over three days, but moderate-impairment patients improved less than healthy controls. Minimal-impairment patients showed an intermediate progression and generalized less to a new path.
• OTCase Series2022Robotic Table and Serious Games for Integrative Rehabilitation in the Early Poststroke Phase: Two Case Reports.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesTwo people early after stroke added robotic table game training to usual physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Both showed gains in arm function, but the table's contribution cannot be separated from usual therapy or natural recovery.
• PTOTSLPOther2022Spasticity-related pain in children/adolescents with cerebral palsy. Part 1: Prevalence and clinical characteristics from a pooled analysis.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineSpasticity-related pain is common in children with cerebral palsy, affecting over 80% of those with lower limb spasticity and nearly 70% with upper limb spasticity. Pain intensity increases with physical demand, being highest during exercises and hard tasks rather than at rest.
• PTOTOther2022Reliability and Validity of a New Diagnostic Device for Quantifying Hemiparetic Arm Impairments: An Exploratory Study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineA new robotic device reliably measures elbow strength, spasticity, and joint stiffness in stroke and CP patients. It matches clinical tests well for these areas. However, it is less accurate for measuring abnormal movement synergy, especially in adults with CP.
• PTOTOther2022A novel tablet-based application for assessment of manual dexterity and its components: a reliability and validity study in healthy subjects.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn healthy adults, a 20-minute tablet app gave repeatable scores for finger recognition, rhythm, sequences and line tracking, but not for unwanted finger movements. It detected age-related slowing, yet did not match Box and Block or Moberg pick-up.
• OTCase Report2021Caregivers' roles in preventing patients with severe Alzheimer's disease from becoming distracted during mealtimes: two case reports.Journal of physical therapy scienceTwo women with severe Alzheimer's ate better when moved to quiet seats away from noisy caregivers. Placing utensils in their hands helped them start eating, but loud voices and visual distractions stopped them.
• PTOTOther2021Somatosensory deficits and neural correlates in cerebral palsy: a scoping review.Developmental medicine and child neurologyAcross 48 studies, most studies found tactile and proprioceptive deficits in people with cerebral palsy, often in both affected and less affected limbs; pain evidence was sparse and neuroimaging results were inconsistent.
• OTCase Report2022CyberLimb: a novel robotic prosthesis concept with shared and intuitive control.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationOne trans-radial amputee pilot used a heavy CyberLimb prototype with a jaw-clench headband, smartphone, backpack and wrist auto-leveling. She preferred the headband over EMG control, but the system was too heavy for daily use.
• PTOTCohort2021Effects of different baggage carrying methods on walking while wearing an arm sling in simulated hemiplegic stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceWearing an arm sling and carrying a 1 kg bag restricted pelvic rotation and tilt compared to normal walking. The differences were small (less than 5°) and hard to see. This was tested in healthy adults simulating stroke, not actual patients.
• PTOTCase-Control2022Individuals with Higher Levels of Physical Activity after Stroke Show Comparable Patterns of Myelin to Healthy Older Adults.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairStroke survivors who were more physically active showed brain myelin patterns comparable to healthy older adults, unlike those with low activity levels. This suggests physical activity may protect against myelin asymmetry after stroke, independent of motor impairment or arm use differences.
• PTOTCohort2022Impairments in Cognitive Control Using a Reverse Visually Guided Reaching Task Following Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairMost stroke participants were impaired on a reverse reaching task, including with their less affected arm. A simple reaching test missed reverse-reaching problems in 27.1% of participants with the less affected arm.