The Development and Clinical Application of the Dextrometer for Measuring Hand Function in Acute Stroke Patients
Date
2013-01-25
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Abstract
Hand function after stroke is clinically assessed by using observation and coarse, ordinal scales to classify impairment severity. Researchers have postulated that these assessment tools may be unable to detect small but clinically relevant differences in impairment. The purpose of this study was to develop an assessment tool, the Dextrometer, that accurately measures and identifies aberrant multi-digit force production patterns produced by stroke patients. To address this goal, acute stroke patients were asked to produce maximum voluntary force with their stroke-affected and unaffected hands in both the extension and flexion directions while forces were recorded from all digits. The results show that the Dextrometer successfully identified unique patterns of digit interactions in the affected hand and also distinguished between different levels of impairment. This study provides justification for the use of the Dextrometer and force production measures for discriminating impairments in hand function.
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Keywords
Neuroscience, Rehabilitation and Therapy
Citation
Dew, M. (2013). The Development and Clinical Application of the Dextrometer for Measuring Hand Function in Acute Stroke Patients (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28053