Effect of carpal tunnel syndrome on grip force coordination on hand tools

This study investigated the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) on the coordination between grip force on and the force applied with a hand tool. A simulated tool device was developed to measure pinch grip force exerted on the tool and the force applied with the tool to a workpiece. Two measures of grip force coordination efficiency were calculated for seven subjects with diagnoses of carpal tunnel syndrome and seven controls. The dependent measures reflected subjects' abilities to (1) modulate grip force in parallel with the tool application force and (2) minimize the ratio of grip force to application force when dynamically applying forces with the tool. The parallel modulation of grip force with application force was 12% lower (p < 0.05) and the ratio of grip force to application force was 54% higher (p < 0.05) for the CTS group than for the controls. These results suggest that individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome lose some ability to efficiently coordinate grip force with tool application force.

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Spectral Clustering Reveals Different Profiles of Central Sensitization in Women with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym13061042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1042

Author(s):

Oscar J. Pellicer-Valero ◽

José D. Martín-Guerrero ◽

César Fernández-de-las-Peñas ◽

Ana I. De-la-Llave-Rincón ◽

Jorge Rodríguez-Jiménez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Clinical Features ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Spectral Clustering ◽

Grip Force ◽

The Other ◽

Pressure Pain ◽

Thermal Pain ◽

Pressure Pain Thresholds ◽

Tunnel Syndrome

Identification of subgroups of patients with chronic pain provides meaningful insights into the characteristics of a specific population, helping to identify individuals at risk of chronification and to determine appropriate therapeutic strategies. This paper proposes the use of spectral clustering (SC) to distinguish subgroups (clusters) of individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), making use of the obtained patient profiling to argue about potential management implications. SC is a powerful algorithm that builds a similarity graph among the data points (the patients), and tries to find the subsets of points that are strongly connected among themselves, but weakly connected to others. It was chosen due to its advantages with respect to other simpler clustering techniques, such as k-means, and the fact that it has been successfully applied to similar problems. Clinical (age, duration of symptoms, pain intensity, function, and symptom severity), psycho-physical (pressure pain thresholds—PPTs—over the three main nerve trunks of the upper extremity, cervical spine, carpal tunnel, and tibialis anterior), psychological (depressive levels), and motor (pinch tip grip force) variables were collected in 208 women with clinical/electromyographic diagnosis of CTS, whose symptoms usually started unilaterally but eventually evolved into bilateral symmetry. SC was used to identify clusters of patients without any previous assumptions, yielding three clusters. Patients in cluster 1 exhibited worse clinical features, higher widespread pressure pain hyperalgesia, higher depressive levels, and lower pinch tip grip force than the other two. Patients in cluster 2 showed higher generalized thermal pain hyperalgesia than the other two. Cluster 0 showed less hypersensitivity to pressure and thermal pain, less severe clinical features, and more normal motor output (tip grip force). The presence of subgroups of individuals with different altered nociceptive processing (one group being more sensitive to pressure pain and another group more sensitive to thermal pain) could lead to different therapeutic programs.

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Multi-digit grasping and manipulation: effect of carpal tunnel syndrome on force coordination

Sensorimotor Control of Grasping ◽

10.1017/cbo9780511581267.021 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 285-295 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jamie A. Johnston ◽

Marco Santello

Keyword(s):

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Force Coordination ◽

Grasping And Manipulation ◽

Tunnel Syndrome

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Prevalence and severity of carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms among Iranian butchers and their association with occupational risk factors: Implications for ergonomic interventions

Work ◽

10.3233/wor-203227 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 66 (4) ◽

pp. 817-825

Author(s):

Fakhradin Ghasemi ◽

Kamran Gholamizadeh ◽

Ramin Rahmani ◽

Amin Doosti-Irani

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Significant Relationship ◽

Working Hours ◽

Occupational Risk ◽

Hand Tools ◽

Occupational Risk Factors ◽

Tunnel Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common disorder among occupations where upper extremities are actively involved in. Many occupational and non-occupational risk factors may contribute to this disorder. Knowledge regarding occupational risk factors can guide us to implement interventional programs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence and severity of CTS symptoms among butchers and their association with several occupational and non-occupational risk factors. METHODS: In this study, 152 butchers in Hamadan, Iran, were examined. The Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Questionnaire (BCTQ) was used to investigate the severity of CTS symptoms among the individuals. Several risk factors such as body mass index (BMI), wrist ratio, active working hours per day, working experience, and the ergonomic quality of hand tools used by butchers were also investigated. Statistical tests such as the crude and robust regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The prevalence of moderate and mild symptoms of CTS were 7% and 54%, respectively. Moreover, 39% of the butchers were free of CTS symptoms. Crude regression analyses showed that the severity of CTS symptoms had a significant relationship with age, work experience, active working hours per day, working hours per week, and ergonomic quality of the hand tools (p value <0.05). There was no significant relationship between the severity of CTS symptoms and wrist ratio and BMI. Results of the robust regression analysis showed a significant relationship between the severity of CTS symptoms with experience, active working hours, and quality of the hand tools. CONCLUSION: Occupational risk factors such as working experience, active working hours per day, and the ergonomic quality of hand tools are significant risk factors of CTS symptoms among butchers. Slippery handle is the main non-ergonomic feature of knives and cleavers used by butchers. There was no association between BMI and wrist ratio with CTS symptoms.

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Bilateral deficits in fine motor control and pinch grip force in patients with unilateral carpal tunnel syndrome

Experimental Brain Research ◽

10.1007/s00221-008-1666-4 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 194 (1) ◽

pp. 29-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

César Fernández-de-las-Peñas ◽

Marta Pérez-de-Heredia-Torres ◽

Rosa Martínez-Piédrola ◽

Ana Isabel de la Llave-Rincón ◽

Joshua A. Cleland

Keyword(s):

Motor Control ◽

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Grip Force ◽

Fine Motor ◽

Fine Motor Control ◽

Pinch Grip ◽

Tunnel Syndrome

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The Effectiveness of Exercise Therapy and Dry Needling on Wrist Range of Motion, Pinch and Grip Force in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Asian Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.5812/asjsm.83927 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Shahin Salehi ◽

Omid Hesami ◽

Mehrshad Poursaeed Esfehani ◽

Shahrzad Khosravi ◽

Amir Rashed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Trial ◽

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Range Of Motion ◽

Randomized Clinical Trial ◽

Exercise Therapy ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Grip Force ◽

Dry Needling ◽

Tunnel Syndrome

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Mathematical Modeling for Neuropathic Pain: Bayesian Linear Regression and Self-Organizing Maps Applied to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Symmetry ◽

10.3390/sym12101581 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 1581

Author(s):

Oscar J. Pellicer-Valero ◽

José D. Martín-Guerrero ◽

Margarita I. Cigarán-Méndez ◽

Carmen Écija-Gallardo ◽

César Fernández-de-las-Peñas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mathematical Modeling ◽

Neuropathic Pain ◽

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Pain Intensity ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Grip Force ◽

Self Organizing Maps ◽

Tunnel Syndrome ◽

And Function

A better understanding of the connection between risk factors associated with pain and function may assist therapists in optimizing therapeutic programs. This study applied mathematical modeling to analyze the relationship of psychological, psychophysical, and motor variables with pain, function, and symptom severity using Bayesian linear regressions (BLR) and self-organizing maps (SOMs) in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). The novelty of this work was a transfer of the symmetry mathematical background to a neuropathic pain condition, whose symptoms can be either unilateral or bilateral. Duration of symptoms, pain intensity, function, symptom severity, depressive levels, pinch tip grip force, and pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) over the ulnar, radial, and median nerve trunks, the cervical spine, the carpal tunnel, and the tibialis anterior were collected in 208 women suffering from CTS. The first BLR model revealed that symptom severity, PPTs over the radial nerve, and function had significant correlations with pain intensity. The second BLR showed that symptom severity, depressive levels, pain intensity, and years with pain were associated with function. The third model demonstrated that pain intensity and function were associated with symptom severity. The SOMs visualized these correlations among variables, i.e., clinical, psychophysical, and physical, and identified a subgroup of women with CTS exhibiting worse clinical features, higher pressure sensitivity, and lower pinch tip grip force. Therefore, the application of mathematical modeling identified some interactions among the intensity of pain, function, and symptom severity in women with CTS.

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An Electromyographic Study of Pneumatic Screwdriver Design

Proceedings of the Human Factors Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193128302700508 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 27 (5) ◽

pp. 369-371

Author(s):

Steven L. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Carpal Tunnel ◽

Occupational Injuries ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Wrist Injuries ◽

Hand Tools ◽

Pain And Suffering ◽

Tunnel Syndrome ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

The Impact

The costs of occupational injuries occurring due to the repetitive use of hand tools are large in terms of both dollars and pain and suffering. One of the most frequently used hand tools in industry is the vertical hanging screwdriver or nutdriver. Although the use of this tool has been related to wrist injuries such a carpal tunnel syndrome, there is very little known about the impact of tool design on such injuries. The paper presents a preliminary study that uses EMG to evaluate power screwdriver design parameters.

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