gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Hand function assessment is essential for upper limb rehabilitation. Using technology is a possibility to facilitate the process by capture hand images and kinematic data movement. The objective is to test the use of a new device called GULM (grasp upper limb movement), designed as a replica of a glass, equipped with an omnidirectional vison system to capture hand images and inertial measurement unit for movement kinematic data acquisition, developed by the robotics rehabilitation lab (EESC-USP).

Materials and Methods: The work followed the ethical precepts and was approved by ethical committee. Ten patients with fingers deformities due to rheumatoid arthritis were evaluated by goniometry, grasp dynamometer, sensibility, DASH, box and blocks and GULM (static prehension and drinking water protocol), according to standardization and on the same day. Both hands were compared, and results were analyzed by statistical descriptive analyses using percentage of alteration.

Results: Most participants were right-handed and most affected was the dominant member. There was a predominance of females (n = 7). They had a diminish of finger goniometry due to swan neck, boutonniere, TMC subluxation, fingers ulnar deviation. Even not expected the sensation test demonstrate ulnar nerve alteration in 5 of them. All of them presented diminished grip strength when compared to Brazilian normality. The GULM results showed that grasp hand area of injured hand was 10 to 25% lower than the non-injured and had correlation with fingers goniometry. The movement analysis showed the indicator of movement angular velocity was lower in the injured hand. Also, the index and thumb abduction angles were lower in affected hand. Task timing also showed some difference.

Conclusions: These results suggested the GULM device, that is portable, light weight and accessible in a clinical setting, can be used in evaluation of the hand functional deficit and rehabilitation progress.