Training Grip Control with a Fitts' Paradigm: A Pilot Study in Chronic Stroke
Abstract
Study Design
A clinical measurement study.
Purpose
To test the applicability of Fitts' paradigm to grasping tasks in individuals with chronic stroke.
Introduction
Fitts' Law relates the time of target achievement to task difficulty in repetitive motor tasks.
Methods
Six male chronic stroke patients performed repetitive actuation of a grip force dynamometer with their affected hands for 12 sessions over four to six weeks.
Results
Movement times followed Fitts' behavior with correlations of R2>0.8 for all subjects. Grasp control improved during training, as indicated by an average decrease in Fitts' slope of 26% at high difficulty levels (p<0.05), and decreases in the number of force corrections and in jerkiness, both at p<0.001 level.
Conclusions
The Fitts' grip force targeting protocol provides an objective standardized instrument for grasp proficiency quantification and a potentially efficacious platform for hand training for persons with stroke.
Level of Evidence
N/A.
Rutgers University Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
Human Performance and Movement Analysis Laboratory, Kessler Foundation Research Center, West Orange, New Jersey
Rutgers University Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Rutgers University Rehabilitation Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
Correspondence and reprint requests to Nam Hun Kim, PhD, Kessler Foundation Research Center, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052;
Adaptations from previous work: This paper has been adapted from an abstract presented at the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME) 2009 Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC).
Funding support: Supported by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) grant from National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).
ABSTRACT