Three-dimensional kinematic motion analysis of door handling task in people with mild and moderate stroke

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to quantify one of the useful upper extremity movements to evaluate motor control abilities between the groups of people with mild and moderate arm impairments performing a door handling task. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Twenty-one healthy participants and twenty-one persons with chronic stroke (9 mild stroke and 12 moderate stroke) were recruited for this study. Stroke participants were divided into 2 groups based on Fugle-Meyer Assessment scores of 58-65 (mild arm) and 38-57 (moderate arm). All they performed door handling task including the pronation and supination phases 3 times. We measured some movement factors which were reaction time, movement time, hand of peak velocity, hand of movement units to perform door handling task using the three-dimensional motion analysis. Results: The majority of kinematic variables showed significant differences among study groups (p<0.05). The reaction time, total and phase of movement time, hand of peak velocity ,the number of movement units discriminated between healthy participants and persons with moderate upper limb stroke (p<0.05). In addition, reaction time, total and phase of movement time, the number of movement units discriminated between those with moderate and mild upper limbs of stroke patients (p<0.05). Conclusions: Three-dimensional kinematic motion analysis in this study was a useful tool for assessing the upper extremity function in different subgroups of people with stroke during the door handling task. These kinematic variables may help clinicians understand the arm movements in door handling task and consist of discriminative therapeutic interventions for stroke patients on upper extremity rehabilitation.

Human Hand Motion Analysis during Different Eating Activities

“…Similarly, the kinematics and dynamics of the human arm, during 24 daily activities (such as eating using a spoon and a fork, drinking with a cup, and washing the face) were studied by Rosen et al [15] to develop a 7-DOF powered exoskeleton for the upper limb. Ah et al [16] performed human hand motion analysis while turning a door knob.…”