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 23 OF 27 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPPilot2025A cup half full: exploring the kinematic consequences of variations in the drinking task protocol.Journal of rehabilitation medicineSmall changes in how the drinking task is set up significantly altered movement time and trunk displacement in 6 healthy adults, but not the smoothness of the movement. The study suggests that standardizing the protocol is crucial for accurate assessment.
• PTOTOther2025Can machine learning improve on the early prediction of upper limb recovery after stroke?Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAn XGBoost model predicted six-month arm recovery from stroke more accurately than a mixed-effects model, with a median error of 4.3 points on the 57-point ARAT scale when applied in the first week. This error was below the 6-point threshold considered clinically meaningful.
• PTOTCohort2025Muscle strength and stiffness of elbow muscles: correlation with upper limb motor functions in people with chronic stroke.Journal of rehabilitation medicineElbow muscle strength, but not stiffness, correlated with upper limb motor function in people with chronic stroke. Strength explained variance in impairment and activity scores, while resting stiffness showed inconsistent or no significant links to functional outcomes.
• PTOTOther2025Uncovering attempted movements of the paralyzed upper limb after stroke through EEG and EMG.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCombining brain and muscle signals detected attempted hand movements in 79% of chronic stroke patients, compared to 50% with brain signals and 53% with muscle signals alone. This hybrid approach offers a more reliable way to identify who can use neural interfaces.
• PTOTRCT2025Botulinum toxin A combining with robot-assisted bimanual therapy integrating mirror therapy versus botulinum toxin A combining with robot-assisted bimanual therapy in patients with post-stroke spastic fingers: a randomized controlled pilot trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding mirror therapy to robot-assisted hand training after Botox injections improved finger movement more than robot training alone. Both groups gained function, but the mirror group saw larger gains in distal hand control, suggesting a stronger sensory feedback loop helps recovery.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Optimal exercise modalities for post-intervention motor function changes in stroke survivors: a pairwise and network meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationResistance training best preserved walking endurance, and robotic training best preserved walking speed after stroke rehab ended. However, no exercise modality significantly improved balance or limb motor control during follow-up, suggesting gains in these areas often fade without continued supervision.
• PTOTOther2025Smart Device-Based Therapy on Hand Motor Function Improvement in Stroke Survivors During Rehabilitation: Scoping Review.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesMost studies showed hand function improvements with smart device therapy, but the evidence is too mixed to say it works better than standard care. Home-based tech is feasible, yet results varied widely by device and study quality.
• PTOTOther2025Responses and reliability of candidate intensity measures to different mental and motor load levels of an upper limb exergame in children and adolescents with neurological diagnoses.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesChildren with neurological diagnoses reported higher effort and performed fewer movements as exergame difficulty increased. Heart rate variability also dropped during harder motor tasks. However, these measures were not reliable when repeated on separate days, so they cannot yet track therapy intensity in practice.
• PTOTQualitative2025Perceptions of occupational therapists and physiotherapists of early intervention therapy services for infants with or at risk of cerebral palsy: A qualitative interview study.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineTherapists report that fragmented communication between hospital and municipality services forces parents to carry medical records back and forth. This burden delays care and creates conflicting advice, while a focus on gross motor skills often causes therapists to miss the early window for hand function intervention.
• PTOTOther2025Innovative stimulated muscle contraction signals based digital muscle marker: a reliable tool for assessing muscle in persons with stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA wearable device that stimulates muscles and reads their response tracked muscle mass and strength in stroke survivors reliably, even on the weak side. It requires no voluntary effort, offering a way to assess muscle wasting in patients who cannot cooperate with standard strength tests.
• PTOTOther2025Reliability of upper limb kinematic variables: adults with unilateral cerebral palsy performing a standardized drinking task.Journal of rehabilitation medicineIn adults with spastic unilateral CP, a motion-capture drinking task gave repeatable upper limb movement results over consecutive days. Small day-to-day differences were usually measurement noise; changes above the reported change thresholds likely reflect real movement differences.
• OTOther2025Reliability and validity of virtual reality box & block test in healthy adults and patients with stroke: a prospective, multi-center, exploratory, cross-sectional study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA VR Box and Block Test produced stable scores and moved with the standard test, but it scored lower and is not interchangeable. It also captured movement speed and distance in people with stroke and healthy adults.
• PTOTRCT2025Effect of upper-limb robot-assisted therapy combined with pneumatic gloves on upper limb function in young and middle-aged stroke patients: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationYoung and middle-aged stroke patients using robot-assisted therapy with pneumatic gloves showed greater upper limb movement and daily function gains than those in conventional occupational therapy. Both groups improved, but the robot-glove group scored higher on motor and activity tests after four weeks.
• OTPilot2025Exploring transcutaneous electrostimulation for proprioceptive feedback in upper limb prostheses: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationStimulating a forearm finger flexor muscle produced a felt finger extension in ten able-bodied participants. In one prosthetic user the effect was weaker, but certain electrode placements helped identify cylinder size without sight.
• PTOTOther2026Standardisation in acute stroke research: A scoping review of upper limb assessments against Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable (SRRR) benchmarks.Clinical rehabilitationAcute stroke upper limb research mostly used impairment tests like FMA-UE and NIHSS, not activity or movement-quality measures. Follow-up timing and imaging use were inconsistent with standard stroke recovery guidelines.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026Prescription of Exercise Programs for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Systematic Review.Journal of autism and developmental disordersCombined exercise programs improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, and quality of life in people with autism. Most studies were small, short, and had high risk of bias, so these benefits are promising but not firmly proven.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Gesture Imitation Performance and Visual Exploration in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersIn young children with autism, gesture imitation scores did not differ from typically developing peers, but imitation quality was linked to age and developmental skills. Looking at the demonstrator's face did not predict imitation accuracy. Meaningful gestures were harder for children with more severe autism symptoms.
• PTOTOther2025Fatigue influences embodiment perception and motor performance in multiple sclerosis subjects: a cross-sectional immersive virtual reality study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFatigued MS patients moved their hands slower and felt less ownership of the virtual body than non-fatigued ones, despite similar disease severity. VR training was highly enjoyable and safe for all, but MS itself did not worsen performance compared to healthy controls.
• OTSLPOther2026Determinants of Positive Evolution of Symptoms in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) during the COVID-19 Lockdown in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (DRC).Journal of autism and developmental disordersDuring lockdown, 42.6% of parents reported positive changes in their child's autism symptoms. Parents spending more than 8 hours daily with the child and improvements in language or autonomy were associated with positive evolution. Conversely, parental depression and child comorbidities were linked to no change or deterioration.
• PTOTSLPOther2025Beyond the joystick: deep learning games for hand movement recovery.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA camera-based game system recognized hand gestures with 85% to 95% accuracy in 15 healthy adults. Users rated its usability as good, suggesting it is technically feasible for home rehabilitation. It has not yet been tested for clinical effectiveness in patients.
• PTOTSLPMeta-Analysis2025Noninvasive brain stimulation for upper limb motor activity in children and young adults with cerebral palsy and pediatric stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding brain stimulation to therapy did not improve upper limb movement in children with cerebral palsy or stroke. The combined treatment showed no benefit over standard care alone, so clinicians should not expect these stimulation techniques to enhance motor recovery on their own.
• PTOTSLPRCT2025Effectiveness of myoelectric wearable orthoses for upper extremity functional recovery in spinal cord injury- a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn 10 people with chronic cervical spinal cord injury, six weeks of training with a myoelectric arm orthosis improved hand range and grip on the trained arm. Between-group differences on the trained arm were not significant. The only significant group difference was for grip strength in the opposite, untrained hand.
• PTOTCohort2025Development and psychometric evaluation of an integrative Manual Muscle Test for patients with post-stroke hemiplegia.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineA new 17-item muscle test for stroke patients takes 15 to 20 minutes and scores both movement range and strength. It reliably distinguishes normal movement from spastic synergy and correlates strongly with balance and walking ability.
• PTOTOther2025Synchronization of passive interpersonal light touch and body control responses during walking.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationLight touch from an experienced therapist sped up healthy walkers, but increased body sway. Inexperienced touch did not change speed. The effect depends on the provider's skill, so do not assume any light touch helps walking.
• OTOther2025Stage-specific EMG feature optimization for enhanced post-stroke hand gesture recognition.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationDifferent muscle-signal features worked best for different Brunnstrom recovery stages in 13 post-stroke patients, improving hand gesture recognition. No patient outcomes were tested, so this is a wearable system design finding.
• PTOTPilot2025Monitoring wheelchair propulsion patterns: feasibility and validity of using wearable sensors.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA hand-mounted sensor correctly identified four wheelchair propulsion patterns in 12 users, including those with no experience. The system worked equally well for men and women and across all four movement styles.
• PTOTRCT2025The impact of bimanual reach training with augmented position sense feedback on post-stroke upper limb somatosensory and motor impairment.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationBimanual robot training improved position sense and motor impairment in chronic stroke patients, but adding force-coupling to the less-affected arm provided no benefit over visual feedback alone. Both groups improved similarly, suggesting the active practice itself drives recovery.
• PTOTPilot2025EMG-guided human-machine interaction training develops new intermuscular coordination patterns in stroke: a pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFour stroke survivors learned to separate two co-activating arm muscles using EMG feedback over six weeks. This changed how their muscles coordinated and improved reaching and wrist movement, but the study was too small to prove the method works.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Telerehabilitation in Postoperative Breast Cancer Care: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesCompared with standard care, telerehabilitation after breast cancer surgery improved quality of life and reduced pain. Upper-limb function did not show a significant pooled improvement.
• PTOTSLPPilot2025Sonomyography accurately captures joint kinematics during volitional and electrically stimulated motion in healthy adults and an individual with cerebral palsy.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationUltrasound imaging tracked wrist and ankle movement accurately in four people, including one with cerebral palsy. This method resisted electrical stimulation noise that blinded standard muscle sensors, but it is a technical feasibility check, not a clinical tool yet.
• PTOTRCT2025The Berlin bimanual test for stroke survivors (BeBiT-S): evaluating exoskeleton-assisted bimanual motor function after stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA new 10-task bimanual test for stroke survivors scored reliably and agreed with existing hand function scores. With a brain-controlled hand exoskeleton, 15 participants scored higher on the test, mainly in grasping and stabilizing.
• PTOTRCT2025REAsmash-ET: a methodological framework for combined cognitive and motor assessment through eye-tracking and kinematic metrics in immersive VR search-and-reach task.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn healthy adults, a VR search-and-reach task showed harder visual search slowed responses and increased looking at distractors, especially with age. It is a research framework, not yet tested in stroke.
• PTOTCohort2025Dystrophin isoform deficiency and upper-limb and respiratory function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.Developmental medicine and child neurologyParticipants with Duchenne muscular dystrophy predicted to lack Dp140 had lower grip strength, pinch strength and respiratory function than participants predicted to retain Dp140. Hand-tapping scores did not differ. This is an association, not proof that one cause explains the difference.
• PTOTRCT2025Motor imagery training promotes motor learning and brain plasticity without fatigability in people with progressive multiple sclerosis.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicinePhysical finger training caused fatigue and failed to improve speed in people with progressive MS. Imagining the same movements improved speed and brain excitability without causing fatigue, though gains did not last an hour.
• PTOTRCT2025Effects of mirror therapy preceding augmented reality in stroke rehabilitation: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding mirror therapy before augmented reality games improved upper limb motor function and sensation more than AR games alone or conventional therapy in stroke survivors. Both AR groups improved balance better than conventional therapy, with gains maintained at three months.
• OTCohort2025The screening Hand Assessment for Infants: Feasibility, validity, and reliability based on parents' recordings.Developmental medicine and child neurologyParents recorded a short play session at home, and the screening Hand Assessment for Infants scored similarly to the clinic version. Trained raters agreed strongly on total hand scores, and most parents found the session easy. This is about assessment, not treatment.
• OTOther2026Beyond the Wrist: Finger-Worn Accelerometers Enhance Assessment of Post-Stroke Motor Performance.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 24 stroke survivors, a finger-worn sensor matched clinical hand scores better than a wrist sensor, especially in moderate impairment. It may help assess real-world arm and hand use, but it is not proven to improve treatment.
• PTOTRCT2025Gaze strategy and sense of ownership in learning prosthetic control: a comparative study using wearable eye tracking.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHealthy adults learning to use body-powered prostheses shifted their gaze to the next target sooner than those using myoelectric devices, who kept watching the hand. Both groups felt more ownership of the device after 40 minutes of practice, but cognitive load stayed the same.
• OTCohort2025Bridging Research and Practice: A Preliminary Detailed Analysis of Current Upper Limb Occupational Therapy Dose and Content in Publicly Funded Poststroke Rehabilitation.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationUsual OT sessions for stroke patients averaged 210 upper-limb repetitions. This exceeded previous reports but remained well below the hundreds of repetitions suggested by animal studies for optimal recovery. The study describes current practice volume without measuring whether this dose improved patient function.
• PTOTCase Report2025Rehabilitation of High-Level Dynamic Balance Skills in an Individual With Significant Nonprogressive Cerebellar Atrophy: Case Report.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationA man with long-standing cerebellar atrophy improved balance and gait after 12 weeks of high-intensity, harness-supported training. He progressed from walking with two hands on rails to running 15 strides unaided, meeting his personal goals.
• PTOTRCT2025Evaluation of Clemastine's Effects on Clinical and Electrodiagnostic Parameters in Individuals With CTS: A Preliminary Placebo-Controlled Double-Blind RCT.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationAdding a 1 mg clemastine pill to a night wrist splint lowered symptom and function scores in carpal tunnel syndrome, but nerve conduction and ultrasound measures did not differ from placebo. This is a 24-patient pilot, so do not change practice on it.
• PTOTCohort2026Quantitative clinical assessment of wrist proprioception with stroke survivors.Clinical rehabilitationA 10-trial wrist position sense test identifies impairment with 85.3% sensitivity and 95.7% specificity compared to the 20-trial version. Updated cut-off scores allow clinicians to confidently diagnose proprioceptive loss after stroke without adjusting for age, sex, or hand dominance.
• PTOTRCT2026Immersive virtual reality upper-limb exercises in people with Parkinson's disease: an observer-blinded randomised controlled trial.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationConventional upper-limb training improved hand function significantly more than immersive virtual reality, though both groups showed gains in arm function and dexterity. The VR system was usable and well-tolerated, but did not outperform standard therapy for the primary outcome.
• OTOther2026Leveraging neural drive to assess hand motor function in individuals with chronic stroke.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA wearable muscle sensor tracked hand nerve signals in seven people with stroke. Combined signal features predicted hand function scores well, but the study was too small to guide treatment. Do not change your practice based on these results.
• OTPilot2026Restoring hand grasping for patients with a complete tetraplegia with selective epineural stimulation: a parsimonious thus relevant clinical approach.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn four men with complete tetraplegia, implanted nerve cuff electrodes and external stimulation let them complete bottle and fork tasks in under 40 seconds during a one-month trial.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026Effectiveness of mirror and robot-assisted therapy for upper extremity rehabilitation in post-stroke patients: a meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationCombining robot-assisted and mirror therapy improved arm movement and daily independence in stroke survivors. The gains were large enough to be clinically meaningful. However, the evidence is moderate, mostly from Chinese trials, and long-term effects are unknown.
• PTOTRCT2026A bilateral upper limb interactive game-based virtual reality rehabilitation system for stroke patients: a usability and clinical study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn a small pilot trial, a Kinect-based bilateral game system outperformed conventional therapy on arm function and coordination. Scores on the 66-point Fugl-Meyer scale rose from 30.18 to 39.27. The sample was tiny, so treat this as feasibility data, not proof.
• PTOTOther2026A Streamlined 4-item Wolf Motor Function Test for Efficient Assessment of Upper Extremity Motor Function in Chronic Stroke Survivors.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairA 4-item version of the Wolf Motor Function Test matches the full 15-item score almost exactly. It takes far less time and equipment, making it a practical choice for tracking arm recovery in chronic stroke patients with mild-to-moderate impairment.
• PTOTOther2026A retrospective analysis of post-stroke rehabilitation with real world use of brain-computer interface.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationMost chronic stroke survivors with severe upper limb weakness improved enough on a motor scale to be considered clinically meaningful after using a brain-computer interface hand device. Improvement often happened within 12 weeks, though some needed longer. This was uncontrolled real-world data, so it does not prove the device caused the gains.
• PTOTOther2026Mirror Neuron System and Upper-Limb EMG Activity During Reaching Imitation in Stroke Survivors: Comparing Outcomes After Observing Normal vs. Aberrant Movements.NeuroRehabilitationStroke survivors showed stronger brain activation and increased supraspinatus muscle activity when imitating a reaching task after watching normal movements compared to aberrant ones. Therapists should prioritize showing correct movement patterns during action observation training.