Highlights
- •People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) showed exaggerated grip force responses and alterations of timing after an unpredictable perturbation in a catching task.
- •Grip force control was preserved in PwMS when the subjects themselves could control the catching task.
- •Measures of reactive grip force responses may be used to complement neurologic assessments in fine motor control aspects in multiple sclerosis.
Abstract
Objectives
To determine the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) on predictive and reactive grip
force control in a catching task and on clinical tests of hand function.
Design
Case-control study with matched-pairs control group.
Setting
University prevention and rehabilitation center.
Participants
Participants (N=30) consisted of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) (n=15) and
healthy controls (n=15), matched for sex, age, and hand dominance.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Performance on the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT),
Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test (JTHFT), and 2-point discrimination (2PD) was evaluated.
To analyze grip force control, blindfolded subjects held a receptacle equipped with
grip force and acceleration sensors in their hand. In a catching task, a weight was
dropped from (1) the experimenter's hand unexpectedly into the receptacle (reactive
force control); and (2) from the subject's opposite hand (predictive force control).
Grip forces and time lags were analyzed.
Results
PwMS (mean EDSS ± SD, 4.2±1.86) had impairments in the 9-HPT and JTHFT (P<.001). The 2PD did not differ significantly between PwMS and controls. During reactive
force control (catching task 1), PwMS showed significantly higher grip forces immediately
after impact (P<.05), and a significant prolongation of the time from grip force increase until reaching
the peak of grip force (P<.001). PwMS and controls did not differ during predictive force control (catching
task 2; P>.1).
Conclusions
Exaggerated grip force responses and alterations of timing after an unpredictable
perturbation, combined with preserved grip force control during predictable conditions,
is a characteristic pattern of fine motor control deficits in MS. Measures of reactive
grip force responses may be used to complement neurologic assessments. Further studies
exploring the usefulness of these measures should be performed in a broader community
of PwMS.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale), JTHFT (Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test), MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance), MS (multiple sclerosis), 9-HPT (Nine Hole Peg Test), PwMS (People with multiple sclerosis), 2PD (2-point discrimination)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 09, 2016
Footnotes
Supported by the Bavarian Research Foundation (grant no. AZ-943-10).
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
