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 25 OF 27 · NEWEST FIRST

• PTOTSLPOther2025Relationship between visual function and motor skills: validation through a vision training system and physical fitness test.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn healthy adults, better spatial awareness on a vision test correlated with higher overall fitness scores and specifically with better repeated horizontal jump performance. Other visual skills, like eye-hand coordination or peripheral perception, showed no significant link to physical fitness.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Explainable machine learning prediction of functional independence measure scores and gain in subacute stroke survivors.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdmission scores on basic daily tasks like bowel management strongly predicted discharge independence, while age and toileting skills predicted overall functional gain. These machine learning models identified specific prognostic factors, offering a transparent way to forecast rehabilitation outcomes in subacute stroke survivors.
• PTOTSLPQualitative2026A Smart Textile Biofeedback Training System for Upper Limb Rehabilitation After Stroke: Co-Design Development and Evaluation Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesStroke survivors and clinicians found a smart textile biofeedback sleeve easy to use and motivating. It helped them see and control remaining muscle activity. They suggested it for home training in chronic stroke, noting it needs clear instructions and support.
• PTOTPilot2025Development and feasibility testing of a video-based exercise program for improving upper limb motor function among stroke survivors in a low-income setting.Archives of physiotherapyStroke survivors in Nigeria completed a four-week home program using an English video, manual, and five exercises including constraint-induced movement therapy; 29 of 30 finished, and motor scores rose 8.8 points on a 75-point scale. Without controls, this shows feasibility, not proven effectiveness.
• PTOTCase Report2026A case report of thumb weakness misdiagnosed as radial neuroma and resulting in upper limb dysfunction after surgery.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesSurgery for a suspected radial neuroma revealed nerve adhesion, and a 37-year-old woman later returned to work after a course of electroacupuncture, ultrasound, and magnetic stimulation. This single case cannot show which treatment helped.
• OTOther2026Reduced Hand Specialization and Idiosyncratic Visuomotor Strategies in Autism During Naturalistic Object Manipulation.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchAutistic adults used their right hand less than non-autistic adults, preferred nearer blocks, took longer, and moved more variably while building. The handedness questionnaire did not predict these task behaviors.
• OTOther2026Both Hands Assessment for children and adolescents with bilateral cerebral palsy: Content and construct validity.Developmental medicine and child neurologyThe Both Hands Assessment could measure bimanual hand use in children and adolescents with bilateral cerebral palsy, but it needed separate scoring for symmetric and asymmetric hand use. One item was revised to count stabilizing objects.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026Comparative efficacy of motor imagery augmented with central non-invasive brain stimulation versus peripheral electrical stimulation for upper extremity rehabilitation post-stroke: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding motor imagery plus low-frequency rTMS to conventional rehab was significantly better than conventional rehab alone for post-stroke arm motor scores; other tested combinations and single interventions were not.
• PTOTCohort2026Beyond spasticity reduction: botulinum toxin-a injection is associated with changes in abnormal flexor synergies of the upper limb in chronic stroke.Journal of rehabilitation medicineBotulinum toxin injections in chronic stroke patients reduced elbow spasticity and improved an index of abnormal flexor synergy. The study did not show a change in maximum voluntary shoulder flexion angle. These findings are from a small, uncontrolled cohort and cannot confirm causality or clinical benefit.
• PTOTOther2025Prevalence and association of sarcopenic obesity with locomotive syndrome based on the 2024 Consensus Statement of the Japanese Working Group on Sarcopenic Obesity in community-dwelling Japanese women.Journal of physical therapy scienceCommunity-dwelling Japanese women classified with sarcopenic obesity showed the highest prevalence of locomotive syndrome, ranging from 81% to 100%. They also recorded the lowest two-step test values, indicating the most severe decline in mobility compared to normal, obese, or sarcopenic groups alone.
• PTOTCohort2025The 30-Second Roll to Quadruped Test: Linking Muscle Strength and Endurance with Rolling.International journal of sports physical therapyHealthy young adults who rolled more times in 30 seconds had greater upper and lower body strength. Those using a pivot strategy were stronger, while those relying on a prone-to-quadruped strategy had lower strength and activity levels. Core endurance did not correlate with rolling performance.
• PTOTCohort2026Evolution of goal setting and attainment over repeated cycles of botulinum toxin A for upper limb spasticity in real-life clinical practice: longitudinal analyses from the observational ULIS-III cohort study.Journal of rehabilitation medicineIn patients receiving repeated botulinum toxin A for upper limb spasticity, goal attainment remained stable over four cycles. Using injection guidance in at least three cycles nearly doubled the odds of meeting goals compared with fewer guided injections.
• PTOTSLPCase Report2026Upper limb motor recovery using a digital health-driven IoT rehabilitation system: a case report.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesA stroke patient with high baseline independence used a digital IoT system for two weeks. His arm movement quality improved slightly, and he stayed engaged. Because he started so capable, the system could not show further gains in how often he used his arm.
• PTOTRCT2026Effect of an ERAS-based pulmonary rehabilitation exercise program on perioperative outcomes in liver resection patients: a prospective study.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicineAfter liver resection, a nurse-led pulmonary rehabilitation bundle added to routine care improved lung function, daily activity, and walking, and reduced atelectasis and clots. Do not credit one component alone.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026On the correlation between training modalities and recovery stages in poststroke robotic rehabilitation of the upper limb: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationRobotic therapy choices should match the stroke recovery stage. Assistive modes with electrical stimulation worked best for chronic patients. Active-assistive modes with bio-signal triggers yielded greater gains for subacute patients. Evidence for the acute phase remains too limited to guide practice.
• PTOTCase Report2026Bionicohand: a collaborative, open-source myoelectric prosthetic hand designed with and for its user.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationThe open-source Bionicohand performed comparably to the user's commercial prosthesis in most tasks, achieving second place in the Cybathlon. It offered better force modulation but slower movement speeds and lacked the ability to distinguish object hardness without feedback.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Hands-free control of an assistive robotic arm for high-level paralysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHead, tongue, and facial muscle controls let people reach targets with a robotic arm as fast as a hand-operated joystick. Voice control was slower. These hands-free options may offer people with high-level paralysis a safer, cheaper alternative to brain implants.
• OTRCT2026Effects of semi-independent bedside rehabilitation of the upper limb assisted with a mobile wrist-hand exoneuromusculoskeleton (ENMS) for inpatients with subacute stroke: a randomized controlled trial (RCT).Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSubacute stroke inpatients who did Bobath therapy plus bedside wrist-hand robot training improved more on the primary upper-limb motor test than those doing Bobath plus cycling robot or Bobath plus PNF, while using less therapist time.
• OTOther2026Lateral armrest support improves postural alignment, respiratory mechanics, and shoulder girdle loading during seated eating in healthy young adults: a multidimensional biomechanical evaluation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationLateral armrests during simulated bed sitting reduced upper trapezius stiffness and increased vital capacity compared with unsupported sitting, and were more comfortable with less neck extension than forward elbow support in 40 healthy young adults.
• PTOTOther2026Validity of FuncUseRatio for ecological monitoring of functional arm use after stroke: toward precision neurorehabilitation.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationWrist sensors accurately track functional arm use in stroke survivors. The FuncUseRatio metric matched video analysis almost perfectly in daily tasks like eating and dressing. This tool validates home monitoring of paretic arm use, helping clinicians detect non-use behaviors early.
• PTOTCohort2026Physical activity levels are low in the days, weeks, and months following dysvascular major lower limb amputation.Journal of rehabilitation medicinePhysical activity increases over the first nine months after dysvascular major lower limb amputation, but remains low. Older age and undernutrition were associated with less activity, while higher grip strength was linked to more. Most activity occurred during leisure time via walking or wheeling.
• OTPilot2026Multigesture Electromyographic Control Complexity in Upper Limb Prostheses Actuated via Single Sensor Input Contraction Magnitude: Qualitative Study for Evaluating Performance and Cognitive Load.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesAble-bodied novice users were most accurate with 1 gesture and least accurate with 5. 3 gestures were more usable than 5, and progressive practice matched static practice except at 3 gestures, where static practice scored higher.
• PTOTCohort2026Home-based exercise training in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A 12-month intervention study.Journal of pediatric rehabilitation medicineA one-year home exercise program was safe for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, but did not significantly improve activity levels compared to standard care. Upper limb function declined, while lung function and endurance remained stable.
• PTOTOther2026Validity and Reliability of the Track-UL Algorithm Compared With Kinovea Software for Measuring Upper-Limb Functional Range of Motion in People After Stroke: Cross-Sectional Observational Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesA free video algorithm matched expert software closely for measuring arm movement in stroke survivors in the lab. At home, only 13 of 27 could record usable video. Use it for clinic assessments, but expect technical failures with remote patient recording.
• PTOTSLPCohort2026Sleep and activity patterns in autism.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceAutistic adults spent more time sedentary and had less consistent sleep schedules than their non-autistic relatives. Each hour of sedentary time linked to 23.5 minutes less sleep in autistic adults, compared to 17.1 minutes in relatives. Day-to-day variability mattered more than average sleep duration.
• PTOTCohort2026Upper limb replantation: functional disability and quality of life challenges.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesPatients who needed a second surgery after upper limb replantation reported worse function in work and recreational tasks, despite similar overall disability scores. Those who did not return to work had significantly higher overall disability. Reintervention was linked to lower perceived hand use in daily activities.
• OTOther2025Reliability Analysis of In-person and Virtual Goniometric Measurements for Select Shoulder and Forearm Motions.International journal of sports physical therapyShoulder internal rotation and forearm pronation/supination measured from screenshots were very consistent among three examiners. The study used 20 adults and static images, not live telehealth visits, so it does not establish accuracy in your caseload.
• PTOTSLPOther2025The Effect of Executive Cognitive Distraction on Sustaining a Volitional Preemptive Abdominal Contraction During a Unipedal Functional Movement in Healthy Participants.International journal of sports physical therapyHealthy participants successfully maintained abdominal bracing during a single-leg reach test even while distracted by an auditory task. However, distraction reduced reach distance in the posteromedial direction, suggesting complex movements may be more vulnerable to cognitive load than simple ones.
• PTOTSLPOther2026Structured modulations in high-density EMG patterns from a single muscle enable simultaneous control of natural and extra degrees of freedom.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationHealthy adults could rotate a virtual cursor using EMG signals from a single biceps muscle while simultaneously controlling force. However, they achieved this by drastically increasing muscle activation rather than modulating neural inputs, and none could hold the rotated position for the required time.
• PTOTCohort2025Relationship between musculoskeletal factors in the shoulder and upper limb function in patients with stroke: A cross-sectional study.Hong Kong physiotherapy journal : official publication of the Hong Kong Physiotherapy Association Limited = Wu li chih liaoIn chronic stroke, a wider shoulder gap and thinner supraspinatus and deltoid muscles on the affected side correlated with slower hand function and lower manual ability scores. These structural changes tracked with functional limits, but the study shows association only, not that treating them restores function.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026EEG biomarkers for assessment, prognosis, and monitoring of natural upper limb recovery after stroke: a systematic review.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationSome EEG patterns, especially brain asymmetry, track upper limb impairment and recovery after stroke, but studies are small, varied and mostly fair quality. They are not ready for clinical decisions.
• PTOTOther2026Feasibility of the Meta Quest 3 for upper limb kinematic analysis: accuracy, consistency, agreement and reliability.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationThe Meta Quest 3 headset tracked wrist movement closely enough to match a laboratory motion capture system for movement time and speed in 39 healthy adults. Smoothness measures varied too much between repeats to be trusted, and vertical tasks tracked worse than horizontal ones.
• PTOTCohort2026Relationships Among Activity, Motor Skill Performance and Executive Function in Preschool Children: Observational Report.Child: care, health and developmentPreschoolers who jumped further, balanced longer, gripped harder or ran faster in the supine timed up and go also did better on tests of holding back a response and remembering where things were. How much they moved, sat and slept showed no link to those scores.
• OTOther2026How few channels suffice? A hierarchical validation framework for minimal-channel wearable sEMG in upper-limb rehabilitation gesture recognition.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationFour forearm electrodes read eight hand and wrist gestures at 94.4% accuracy across 24 people, matching a six-electrode setup. Three electrodes reached 91.7%, but only 8 of 24 people matched their own best layout. Participants were healthy young adults, not patients.
• OTSLPCohort2026Maternal And Paternal Differences in Parental Stress and Children's Autistic Features Among Parents of Preschool Autistic Children.Autism : the international journal of research and practiceChild behaviour problems went with higher stress for both mothers and fathers of autistic preschoolers. Mothers' stress also went with social communication, repetitive behaviour and adaptive difficulties; fathers' did not. Mothers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and more educated mothers, reported less stress.
• OTSystematic Review2025Determining the success of clinical outcomes for thumb immobilization compared to no thumb immobilization in adult non-displaced, non-surgically managed scaphoid fractures: A systematic review.Hong Kong journal of occupational therapy : HKJOTIn stable scaphoid fractures, casting with the thumb free made no clear difference to healing, pain, grip strength or wrist movement compared with casting that included the thumb. One small study of healthy volunteers found faster hand function without the thumb immobilised.
• OTCohort2025Pediatric normative data for the Complete Minnesota Dexterity Test.Journal of hand therapy : official journal of the American Society of Hand TherapistsChildren aged 7 to 18 now have age-based scores for all five parts of the Complete Minnesota Dexterity Test, covering one-handed and two-handed tasks, with times getting faster each year. The authors say one attempt per task is enough.
• PTOTPilot2026Feasibility, acceptability, and functional outcomes of a home-based exergaming telerehabilitation program for adults with functional disabilities: a multi-center single-arm pilot study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA caregiver-supervised home exergaming programme was feasible: 9 of 10 participants exercised on more than 70% of days and no falls or adverse events occurred. Functional gains were seen but are uncontrolled, and everyone kept having usual outpatient rehabilitation.
• OTRCT2025Repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation for hemiparetic hand edema in stroke patients: A randomized crossover trial.Hong Kong journal of occupational therapy : HKJOTTwo weeks of repetitive magnetic stimulation added to standard rehabilitation reduced hand swelling and improved knuckle bending in stroke patients with a severely paralysed hand. Sixteen people finished the study, all in one hospital, and nobody was blinded.
• PTOTOther2026Digital Platform to Provide Health Data Feedback for Neurorehabilitation Patients: User-Centered Development and Proof-of-Concept Usability Study.JMIR rehabilitation and assistive technologiesBoth patients and therapists preferred progress bars and color-coded summaries over text or spider plots when shown rehabilitation results in a co-designed app, and rated its usability highly (93.6 and 80.9 out of 100). It used fabricated data, so no clinical benefit is shown.
• PTOTSystematic Review2026Do Leg-Focused Exercises Improve Arm and Hand Function for Individuals With Neurologic Disorders? A Scoping Review.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationLeg training came with better arm and hand function in half of 12 small studies; the other half found no change, and none found harm. Almost none of the studies actually tested this, so it is a research question, not a treatment.
• PTOTOther2026Quantification of Lower Extremity Dressing Movements in Patients With Stroke.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationHow a stroke patient raises their trousers differs with how much help they need. Those needing supervision or hands-on help put much less weight through the affected leg and used different trunk and pelvic movement than those who were independent.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2026Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Efficacy of Shorter Duration Modified Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy (mCIMT) Programs.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationLower-dose constraint-induced movement therapy (under 39 hours of supervised training plus at least 10 hours a day of restraint) improved arm function after chronic stroke in 5 trials, but only real-world arm use held up at follow-up. Evidence quality was rated very low.
• PTOTQualitative2025What stroke survivors say about living with upper limb spasticity and how they manage it.Australian occupational therapy journalStroke survivors with upper limb spasticity described life as continuous adaptation: expecting, learning, practising, evaluating, moving forward. They devised their own strategies, such as a paint roller holder worn at night to keep the hand open, and chose what services and equipment to use.
• OTOther2025Development and initial psychometric properties of the timed upper limb assessment in older adults with Parkinson's.The British journal of occupational therapyA new 10-item timed hand and arm test took people with Parkinson's 22.2 seconds on average, against 16.8 seconds for controls, and times rose with disease stage. Two raters scored the same videos alike, but no one has yet re-tested the same person.
• PTOTSLPPilot2026Exploring Treatment Expectations and Clinical Meaningfulness in Spinal Muscular Atrophy Using the Goal Attainment Scale.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translationPeople with SMA asked to set their own goals most often chose independence in movement, upper limb strength and daily activities. Most of those goals matched items on the motor scales already in use.
• PTOTCohort2026Reliability and validity of two square agility test and workability rate of manipulation in adults with musculoskeletal disorders.Journal of physical therapy scienceThe Two Square Agility Test and the WorkAbility Rate of Manipulation gave steady repeat scores three weeks apart in 55 adults with musculoskeletal disorders. A change beyond 0.74 steps a second on agility, or 6.5 to 13.1 parts a minute on dexterity, is likely real.
• OTSystematic Review2026Preschool Hand Function Assessment Instruments: A Scoping Review With Targeted Analysis of Performance-Based Instruments.Occupational therapy international62 hand function assessments exist for preschool children, but none covers every hand function domain in a form that is culturally adaptable for low- and middle-income countries. Most come from high-income countries and only one covers most domains.
• PTOTMeta-Analysis2025Effect of virtual reality-based upper limb training on activity of daily living and quality of life among stroke survivors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationAdding game-based virtual reality to stroke upper limb rehabilitation, or using it on its own, improved daily activity scores more than conventional therapy alone, and immersive headsets did better than screens. Quality-of-life results look bigger but rest on only eight trials.
• PTOTSystematic Review2025Upper limb motor recovery in chronic stroke-longitudinal aggregate analysis from control group outcomes.Frontiers in rehabilitation sciencesIn chronic stroke, control groups given general exercise rather than targeted arm therapy gained 0.9 points on the 66-point Fugl-Meyer arm scale, well short of the 4.25 to 7.25 points that marks a real change.