A novel system is proposed for analysing school-age children's force control while handwriting. We observed the development of force control in relation to pen grip among the children with different ages in this study. The findings suggested that manipulation skill may be crucial when children are establishing their handwriting capabilities.

Aims/IntroductionThe purpose of the present study was to identify whether there are differences in hand dexterity, hand functional performance and quality of life between diabetes patients with mononeuropathy and polyneuropathy of their hands to further present the importance regarding the impacts of diabetic neuropathic deficits on patients’ functional capacity.Materials and MethodsThe neurological deficits of 127 patients with type 2 diabetes were examined by electrophysiological tests for the median and ulnar nerves, and were stratified into the diabetic mononeuropathy, diabetic polyneuropathy and non‐diabetic neuropathy groups by sensory amplitude of these nerves. The Purdue pegboard test, Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire, and Diabetes‐39 were carried out to understand patients’ hand dexterity, functional hand performance and quality of life, respectively.ResultsThe results showed significant differences in all subtests of the Purdue pegboard test among the three groups. Furthermore, aesthetics, patient's satisfaction of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire and diabetes control, sexual functioning, energy, and mobility of the Diabetes‐39 also showed significant differences among the three groups.ConclusionsThe present study shows the patients with polyneuropathy suffer from more negative impacts on hand functional performance and quality of life than those with mononeuropathy and without neuropathy. These findings might assist both patients and clinicians in better realizing the impacts of neuropathic hands, and planning suitable strategies of intervention or health education to prevent declines in hand functions.

In comparison with diabetic feet, neuropathic diabetic hands are an easily neglected problem, with insufficient empirical evidence in the literature to indicate its impact on functional performance and quality of life. This study showed that lesions related to neural functioning in the diabetic hand may negatively influence dexterity and functional hand performance and thus also affect the quality of life.

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Background. Knowledge regarding the relationship between writing kinetics and the difference among writing tasks is limited. Purpose. This study examined the differences in handwriting performance when doing tasks with different levels of challenge from both temporal and kinetic perspectives among children in four different age groups. Method. The cross-sectional design introduced a force-acquisition pen to detect differences of pen grip and writing kinetics among 170 school-age children doing writing tasks at different difficulty levels. Data were obtained on the force information of the digits and pen tip and the kinetic parameters to examine the coordination-and-control mechanism between the digits and pen. Statistical analyzes were carried out to indicate the differences in writing performance among groups and tasks. Findings. Statistical differences in the pen-grip forces, force fluctuation, and force ratio between grip and pen-tip forces were found when performing different writing tasks and among different age groups. Implications. The study provides an alternative method to explore how writing performance among school-age children can vary according to the difficulty of the writing tasks. Abré gé Description. Les connaissances concernant la relation entre la cinétique de l'écriture et la différence entre les tâches d'écriture sont limitées. But. Cette étude examinait les différences entre les performances à l'écrit d'enfants de quatre groupes d'âges différents, lors de l'exécution de tâches ayant différents degrés de difficulté, d'un point de vue temporel et cinétique. Mé thodologie. Ce devis transversal comprenait un stylo muni d'un système permettant de recueillir des données sur la force, afin de détecter les différences entre les forces de préhension et la cinétique d'écriture de 170 enfants d'âge scolaire pendant qu'ils effectuaient des tâches d'écriture ayant différents degrés de difficultés. Des données ont été obtenues sur la force exercée par les doigts sur le barillet et la force exercée sur la pointe du stylo et sur les paramètres de la cinétique, en vue d'examiner le mécanisme de coordination et de contrô le entre les doigts et le stylo. Des analyses statistiques ont été effectuées pour indiquer les différences entre les différents groupes et tâches, en ce qui concerne la performance à l'écrit. Ré sultats. Des différences statistiques ont été constatées entre les forces de préhension exercées sur le stylo, la fluctuation des forces et le rapport entre la force de préhension et les forces exercées sur la pointe du stylo lors de l'exécution de différentes tâches d'écriture et dans les différents groupes d'âges. Conséquences. L'étude propose une méthode différente pour explorer comment la performance à l'écrit des enfants d'âge scolaire peut varier en fonction du degré de difficulté des tâches d'écriture.