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 2 OF 27 · NEWEST FIRST

• OTOther2016Mahjong playing and eye-hand coordination in older adults-a cross-sectional study.Journal of physical therapy scienceOlder mahjong players mostly matched non-players on stationary pointing with the dominant hand. They had better non-dominant accuracy and faster, more accurate pointing to moving targets. This cross-sectional study cannot show mahjong caused the differences.
• PTOTOther2017Stride variability measures derived from wrist- and hip-worn accelerometers.Gait & postureWrist-worn accelerometers can track walking rhythm and activity levels as well as hip-worn devices in healthy older adults. However, they cannot reliably measure stride-to-stride variability. Use wrist data for general activity counts, but do not expect it to detect subtle inconsistencies in walking.
• PTOTCase Report2016Combined treatment with paraffin, manual therapy, pegboard and splinting in a patient with post-traumatic stiff hand.Archives of physiotherapyA woman with a stiff post-traumatic hand showed improved motion, pain and function after 9 weeks of daily paraffin, manual therapy, pegboard and splinting, then outpatient therapy. No conclusion can be drawn about which component caused change.
• PTOTSLPOther2016Reliability and validity of standing balance assessment index using a hand-held dynamometer in stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy sciencePushing against a stroke patient's pelvis with a hand-held dynamometer until they lose balance measures standing stability reliably. The force needed correlates strongly with standard balance scores. It is quick and works for patients too impaired to perform other tests.
• OTSystematic Review2016Systematic review of the effects of mirror therapy in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceAcross nine studies in children with cerebral palsy, mirror therapy improved hand or arm measures in seven, but a study found worse daily tasks with both hands and no randomized trial was included.
• PTOTCase Report2016The effects of neck and trunk stabilization exercises on upper limb and visuoperceptual function in children with cerebral palsy.Journal of physical therapy scienceEleven children with cerebral palsy improved hand function and visual-motor speed after eight weeks of neck and trunk stabilization exercises. Because this was a small case series without a control group, it cannot confirm the exercises caused the gains.
• PTOTRCT2017Effects of singular and dual task constraints on motor skill variability in childhood.Gait & postureYoung children aged 4 to 6 varied more in finger rotation and in carrying a box while walking than older children. Obstacle crossing did not show age differences. This describes motor variability in children without known conditions, not treatment effects.
• PTOTOther2016The effect of bilateral trainings on upper extremities muscle activation on level of motor function in stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceStroke patients with better arm recovery showed higher muscle activation and lower co-contraction when lifting a Pilates ring with both hands compared to clasping hands. This suggests the ring task may facilitate more coordinated movement in the affected limb.
• PTOTOther2016Analysis of affected and non-affected sides of stroke hemiparalysis patients and correlations between rehabilitation therapy assessments using the bioelectrical impedance analysis method.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 20 stroke patients with hemiplegia, a body electrical measure called phase angle was lower on the paralyzed side and tracked grip strength, hand dexterity, and daily activity independence. Another body electrical measure was also lower, but the resistance measure did not differ.
• PTOTOther2016Reliability and validity of the sequential weight-shifting test: a new functional approach to the assessment of the sitting balance of older adults.Journal of physical therapy scienceA new seated weight-shifting test gave moderately consistent results when repeated a week later in older adults who needed help walking. It also tracked reach, grip strength, mobility, and breathing measures. It needs force platforms, so it is not a simple clinic test.
• PTOTCohort2017Does grip strength on the unaffected side of patients with hemiparetic stroke reflect the strength of other ipsilateral muscles?Journal of physical therapy scienceGrip strength on the unaffected side of stroke patients correlated significantly with the strength of seven other muscle groups. Measuring grip alone may offer a quick estimate of overall unaffected-side strength, though correlations were moderate.
• PTOTOther2017Effects of observation of hand movements reflected in a mirror on cortical activation in patients with stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceAfter mirror therapy, EEG responses in stroke patients changed. Mirror viewing altered alpha and beta activity differently from direct hand viewing. The study did not measure hand function or daily tasks, so it does not show functional recovery.
• PTOTCase Series2017Effects of two-handed task training on upper limb function of chronic hemiplegic patients after stroke.Journal of physical therapy scienceTwo chronic stroke patients practised everyday two-handed tasks for 12 sessions. Both had larger and faster brain-to-hand responses and small hand-function gains, but this cannot show the training works.
• PTOTOther2017Clinical characteristics affecting motor recovery and ambulation in stroke patients.Journal of physical therapy scienceWomen with stroke hemiplegia had lower hand and upper-limb motor stages and more complex regional pain syndrome. Shoulder pain was linked to complex regional pain syndrome. Rehabilitated patients were further from stroke, so better walking scores cannot be credited to rehabilitation alone.
• OTRCT2017Feasibility and usability of a wearable orthotic for stroke survivors with hand impairment.Disability and rehabilitation. Assistive technologyStroke survivors found a vibrating wristband prototype close to satisfactory but wanted it cheaper, easier to put on, waterproof, and proof that it helps hand function over time.
• PTOTCohort2016Predictors of Altered Upper Extremity Function During the First Year After Breast Cancer Treatment.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationAt 12 months, 16.6% of women had a shoulder abduction restriction of at least 20 degrees on the affected side compared with the unaffected side. Poorer preoperative shoulder motion predicted poorer one-month motion, so screening before surgery may identify higher risk.
• PTOTRCT2016Skilled Bimanual Training Drives Motor Cortex Plasticity in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn children with unilateral cerebral palsy, 90 hours of structured bimanual skill training enlarged hand movement areas in the brain and strengthened muscle responses to brain stimulation. Unstructured play did not. Both groups improved hand function similarly.
• OTOther2017Movement quality of conventional prostheses and the DEKA Arm during everyday tasks.Prosthetics and orthotics internationalThe DEKA Arm did not consistently improve movement quality in 3 prosthesis users compared with conventional prostheses. Some moved faster and smoother, others moved slower and less smooth. All still moved worse than controls.
• PTOTPilot2017H-GRASP: the feasibility of an upper limb home exercise program monitored by phone for individuals post stroke.Disability and rehabilitationIn 6 of 8 people post stroke who finished a home arm exercise program with weekly phone calls, arm function, use, strength and self-perceived performance improved. Retention and adherence were below target, and no control group limits interpretation.
• PTOTRCT2017A low cost virtual reality system for home based rehabilitation of the arm following stroke: a randomised controlled feasibility trial.Clinical rehabilitationThe home glove system, with usual care, therapist setup and support, did not significantly improve the primary arm function test after eight weeks. Recruitment was so low that a definitive trial would need many more participants, and the system required substantial therapist support.
• PTOTCase Report2016Engaging Cervical Spinal Cord Networks to Reenable Volitional Control of Hand Function in Tetraplegic Patients.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairTwo people with chronic cervical spinal cord injury showed greater grip force and hand control during cervical epidural stimulation, and over repeated sessions. This is not evidence the stimulation works for other patients.
• OTOther2017Activities of daily living and manual hand dexterity in persons with idiopathic parkinson disease.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 25 people with mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease, better hand dexterity on the less affected side was linked to greater independence in daily activities. This association was stronger than for the more affected side.
• PTOTRCT2016Upper-Limb Recovery After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing EMG-Triggered, Cyclic, and Sensory Electrical Stimulation.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairAll three stimulation types improved upper-limb scores over 8 weeks, with no significant difference between EMG-triggered, cyclic NMES, and sensory stimulation. This trial did not show one method was better for wrist-hand function after stroke.
• PTOTCohort2017Using diffusion tensor imaging to identify corticospinal tract projection patterns in children with unilateral spastic cerebral palsy.Developmental medicine and child neurologyDiffusion tensor imaging (DTI) identified the corticospinal tract in 81.8% of cases where TMS confirmed it, offering a practical alternative for children who cannot tolerate TMS. In children with bilateral connectivity, the tract from the damaged side showed poorer integrity than the healthy side.
• PTOTCohort2017Negative Neurodynamic Tests Do Not Exclude Neural Dysfunction in Patients With Entrapment Neuropathies.Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitationA negative median nerve neurodynamic test does not rule out carpal tunnel syndrome. In this cohort, over half of confirmed CTS patients tested negative on these maneuvers, and those with negative tests showed worse warm sensation loss than those with positive tests.
• PTOTSystematic Review2016How have research questions and methods used in clinical trials published in Clinical Rehabilitation changed over the last 30 years?Clinical rehabilitationRehabilitation trials published over decades grew, but many still lacked clear primary outcomes, blinding, follow-up, or missing-data handling. Read them cautiously: samples were often small, and methodological improvements were modest.
• OTRCT2016Rehabilitation of hemineglect of the left arm using movement detection bracelets activating a visual and acoustic alarm.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationLeft-arm movement improved in three tasks only while alarms were active during seven days of occupational therapist-guided bimanual task practice with wrist alarm bracelets in nine stroke patients with arm neglect. No lasting benefit was seen after the alarms were switched off.
• PTOTNarrative Review2016On the assessment of coordination between upper extremities: towards a common language between rehabilitation engineers, clinicians and neuroscientists.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationClinicians and engineers currently use incompatible definitions and metrics for upper-limb coordination, preventing standardized assessment. This review proposes a common taxonomy to align terminology, aiming to bridge the gap between clinical functional measures and robotic assessment tools.
• OTCase Report2017Motor skill changes and neurophysiologic adaptation to recovery-oriented virtual rehabilitation of hand function in a person with subacute stroke: a case study.Disability and rehabilitationA person with subacute stroke completed eight one-hour VR hand training sessions over two weeks while continuing occupational, physical, and speech therapy. She gained pinch force, hand scores, and brain map changes, but this case cannot show the training caused them.
• PTOTSurvey2016Evaluation of upper extremity neurorehabilitation using technology: a European Delphi consensus study within the EU COST Action Network on Robotics for Neurorehabilitation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationEuropean experts agreed on four face-to-face upper-limb assessments per programme, separate from treatment and lasting up to three hours, using technology data plus validated clinical measures. They did not agree on many specific measures.
• PTOTPilot2017Effects of repeated vibratory stimulation of wrist and elbow flexors on hand dexterity, strength, and sensory function in patients with chronic stroke: a pilot study.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 10 patients, vibration to wrist and elbow flexors did not beat traditional physical therapy. Both groups improved hand dexterity, but grip strength was not shown to improve and sensation was unchanged.
• PTOTCase-Control2016A robot-based behavioural task to quantify impairments in rapid motor decisions and actions after stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationEighty-two percent of people with stroke were impaired on more than five robot task measures, and all but one person with neglect was impaired. Distractor errors appeared even when MoCA scores were normal.
• OTOther2016Learning to use a body-powered prosthesis: changes in functionality and kinematics.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFunctional daily-task scores improved with repeated testing in all groups, including controls, but training transfer was weak. Indirect grasping practice reached objects faster and used the least grip force among training groups.
• PTOTCohort2017Does Corticospinal Tract Connectivity Influence the Response to Intensive Bimanual Therapy in Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy?Neurorehabilitation and neural repairCorticospinal tract pattern did not predict who improved more after intensive bimanual therapy, with lower extremity training at one site. Children with ipsilateral and contralateral patterns improved similarly on several hand function and daily activity measures.
• PTOTCohort2016Physical activity outside of structured therapy during inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationDuring inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation, activity outside PT and OT was low. Half of the time was sedentary leisure. Wrist and hip accelerometers showed more movement by discharge, but self-report did not detect it.
• PTOTRCT2017Does Task-Specific Training Improve Upper Limb Performance in Daily Life Poststroke?Neurorehabilitation and neural repairTask-specific training did not increase upper limb use in daily life for 78 people with chronic stroke, despite improvements in clinic capacity. Neither the amount of practice nor gains in test scores predicted better real-world performance. Clinic gains did not carry over to home.
• OTCase-Control2017Analysis of muscle fiber conduction velocity during finger flexion and extension after stroke.Topics in stroke rehabilitationIn stroke survivors, the finger-extensor muscle showed lower electrical signal speed in the affected hand than the unaffected hand, while the finger-flexor muscle did not. This suggests a possible fast-twitch fiber or activation problem in extensors. It is not proven.
• PTOTOther2017Exercising daily living activities in robot-mediated therapy.Journal of physical therapy scienceChronic post-stroke patients showed better arm movement, grip function and independence scores after six weeks of robot-assisted daily-living training; spasticity did not change and Barthel Index did not clearly improve.
• PTOTOther2017Does the Finger-to-Nose Test measure upper limb coordination in chronic stroke?Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn chronic stroke, finger-to-nose test time tracked shoulder-elbow timing, went with arm impairment and activity, and a 10.6-second cut-off separated mild from moderate-to-severe impairment.
• PTOTCase Report2017Improved functional independence measure facilitates return to home after paralyzed upper-limb training: a case report.Journal of physical therapy scienceThe FIM score rose from 71 to 105 in one stroke patient who received occupational therapy, affected upper-limb training, physiotherapy, and a fixed walker with knee support over four months. She returned home. This is one person, not proof the package works.
• PTOTOther2017The added value of kinematic evaluation of the timed finger-to-nose test in persons post-stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPersons post-stroke completed the finger-to-nose test slower, with less smooth, less straight and less accurate pointing and more trunk and shoulder-blade movement. Even when their time matched controls, these movement differences remained.
• PTOTSLPPilot2017Development and assessment of a hand assist device: GRIPIT.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFour 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.
• PTOTSystematic Review2017Interactive wearable systems for upper body rehabilitation: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationMost included wearable upper-body rehab systems track motion and give visual feedback, but only three had clinical trials. Do not assume they improve movement or function; evidence is still mainly technical and usability.
• PTOTRCT2017Competitive and cooperative arm rehabilitation games played by a patient and unimpaired person: effects on motivation and exercise intensity.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCompeting with an unimpaired person raised arm movement speed. It also raised enjoyment mainly in patients who liked competition. Cooperating did not raise movement speed. Competition was not more stressful than exercising alone.
• PTOTOther2017Stroke Lesions in a Large Upper Limb Rehabilitation Trial Cohort Rarely Match Lesions in Common Preclinical Models.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairICARE did not show a difference in its main motor outcome between rehabilitation groups. The analyzed strokes were small, and common cortical models captured 16% of participants; a subcortical model captured 33%.
• PTOTRCT2017Rehabilitation of hand function after spinal cord injury using a novel handgrip device: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationGrip 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.
• PTOTOther2017Differences in attention, hand dexterity, and lower extremity activities in the presence or absence of a time limit.Journal of physical therapy scienceHealthy college students scored higher on a trail-making task and completed more pegboards and sit-to-stand cycles when their own previous time was imposed as a limit. This tested simple tasks in healthy adults, not stroke rehabilitation.
• OTPilot2017Body-Machine Interface Enables People With Cervical Spinal Cord Injury to Control Devices With Available Body Movements: Proof of Concept.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairWith practice, eight people with cervical spinal cord injury learned to move a computer cursor using remaining shoulder movements, becoming faster and more accurate in a small proof of concept study.
• PTOTOther20173D motion analysis of the wrist splint effect to wrist joint movement.Journal of physical therapy scienceWearing a fitted wrist splint while opening bottle caps increased wrist angle values in young adults for each cap size tested. This was a small laboratory test in normal wrists, not proof splints prevent injury.
• PTOTOther2017The effects of training using EMG biofeedback on stroke patients upper extremity functions.Journal of physical therapy scienceAdding EMG biofeedback to traditional stroke rehabilitation did not clearly improve upper-limb or independence scores beyond traditional rehabilitation alone in 30 chronic stroke outpatients.