Article

Advancements in upper limb prosthesis design have focused on
providing increased degrees of freedom for the end effector through multiple
articulations of a prosthetic hand, wrist and elbow.
Measuring improvement in
patient function with these devices requires development of appropriate assessment tools. This study presents a refined clothespin relocation
test for measuring performance and assessing compensatory motion between
able-bodied subjects and subjects with upper limb impairments. STUDY DESIGN:
Comparative analysis. METHODS: Trunk and head motions of 13 able-bodied subjects
who performed the refined clothespin relocation test were compared to the motion
of a transradial prosthesis user with a single degree of freedom hand. RESULTS:
There were observable differences between the prosthesis user and the able-bodied
group. The assessment used provided a clear indication of the differences in
motion through analysis of compensatory motion. CONCLUSION: The refined
clothespin relocation test provides additional benefits over the standard
clothespin assessment and makes identification of compensatory motions easily
identifiable to the researcher. While this article establishes the method for the
new assessment, further validation will need to be performed with more users.
Clinical relevance The refined test provides a more defined structure for the
trajectory of the hand/terminal device than the standard protocol for the
clothespin relocation test.
This will help researchers interested in motion
studies of limb segments to efficiently compare and analyse motion between
able-bodied and prosthesis user groups.

Langue : ANGLAIS