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Lin BS, Kuo SF, Lee IJ, Lu LH, Chen PY, Wang PC, Lai CH, Wang XM, Lin CH. The impact of aging and reaching movements on grip stability control during manual precision tasks. BMC Geriatr 2021; 21:703. [PMID: 34911487 PMCID: PMC8672550 DOI: 10.1186/s12877-021-02663-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Operating an object by generating stable hand-grip force during static or dynamic posture control of the upper extremities simultaneously is an important daily activity. Older adults require different attentional resources during grip strength control and arm movements. However, the impact of aging and reaching movements on precise grip strength and stability control among older adults is not well understood. This study investigated the impact of aging and reaching movements on grip strength and stability control in both hands of the upper extremities. Methods Fifty healthy young adults (age: 28.8 ± 14.0 years) and 54 healthy older adults (73.6 ± 6.3 years) were recruited to perform isometric grip strength test at 20% maximal voluntary contraction as the target force during three manual precision tasks simultaneously: stationary task (without arm movements), forward-reach task, and backward-reach task. The average grip force (in kg) and coefficient of variation values (expressed as a percentage) during manual precision tasks were calculated to determine the quality of participants’ grip strength. The deviation error, absolute error, and force-stability index values were calculated to determine the strength control relative to the target force. Results For both the young and older groups, the force-stability index values in both hands were significantly higher during forward- and backward-reaching movements than in the stationary condition (p < 0.05). The older group exhibited a significantly lower hand-grip strength and stability of strength control in both hands than the young group (p < 0.05). Conclusions Aging and reaching task performance reduced the grip strength of participants and increased the variations in strength control of both hands relative to the target force, indicating that older adults exhibit poor grip strength and stability control when performing arm-reaching movements. These findings may help clinical therapists in establishing objective indexes for poor grip-stability control screening and developing appropriate rehabilitation programs or health-promotion exercises that can improve grip strength and stability control in older people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bor-Shing Lin
- Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Shu-Fen Kuo
- School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - I-Jung Lee
- Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Liang-Hsuan Lu
- Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Po-Yin Chen
- Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Pin-Chun Wang
- Vitality and Ageing, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.,Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - Chien-Hung Lai
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xin-Miao Wang
- Faculty of Humanities, Zhejiang Dong Fang Polytechnic Collage, Wenzhou, China
| | - Chueh-Ho Lin
- Master Program in Long-Term Care, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Xing Street, 11031, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. .,Center for Nursing and Healthcare Research in Clinical Practice Application, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Xing Street, 11031, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
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Schneider TR, Hermsdörfer J. Intention to be force efficient improves high-level anticipatory coordination of finger positions and forces in young and elderly adults. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:1663-1680. [PMID: 33689482 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00499.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Successful object manipulation requires anticipatory high-level control of finger positions and forces to prevent object slip and tilt. Unlike young adults, who efficiently scale grip forces (GFs) according to surface conditions, old adults were reported to exert excessive grip forces. In this study, we theoretically show how grip force economy depends on the modulation of the centers of pressure on opposing grip surfaces (ΔCoP) according to object properties. In a grasp-to-lift study with young and elderly participants, we investigated how the instruction to lift the object with efficient GF influences the anticipation of torques, ΔCoP and GF control during complex variations of mass distributions and surface properties. Provision of the explicit instruction to strive for force efficiency prompted both age groups to optimize their ΔCoP modulation, although to a lesser degree in the elderly, and also led to a refinement of torque anticipation for a right-sided weight distribution in the young, but not the elderly participants. Consequently, marked drops in GF levels resulted. Furthermore, participants enhanced ΔCoP modulation and lowered GF safety ratios in challenging surface conditions. Higher GF in the elderly was due to decreased skin-surface friction but also worse ΔCoP modulation for lateralized mass distributions when trying to be force efficient. In contrast, safety margins were not elevated in the elderly, suggesting preserved GF control. Our findings demonstrate how task goals influence high-level motor control of object manipulation differentially in young and elderly participants and highlight the necessity to control for both instructions and friction when investigating GF control.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previous studies have shown that forces are covaried as a function of centers of pressure (CoPs) to exert adequate torques. Here, we demonstrate that force-efficient object manipulation requires the modulation of CoPs and show that providing the instruction to be force efficient and challenging surface conditions elicits a GF safety ratio reduction as well as an optimization of anticipatory CoP modulation and torques in the young and, to a lesser degree, in the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Rudolf Schneider
- Chair of Human Movement Science, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.,Department of Neurology, Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
| | - Joachim Hermsdörfer
- Chair of Human Movement Science, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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Naceri A, Gultekin YB, Moscatelli A, Ernst MO. Role of Tactile Noise in the Control of Digit Normal Force. Front Psychol 2021; 12:612558. [PMID: 33643139 PMCID: PMC7907510 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.612558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Whenever we grasp and lift an object, our tactile system provides important information on the contact location and the force exerted on our skin. The human brain integrates signals from multiple sites for a coherent representation of object shape, inertia, weight, and other material properties. It is still an open question whether the control of grasp force occurs at the level of individual fingers or whether it is also influenced by the control and the signals from the other fingers of the same hand. In this work, we approached this question by asking participants to lift, transport, and replace a sensorized object, using three- and four-digit grasp. Tactile input was altered by covering participant's fingertips with a rubber thimble, which reduced the reliability of the tactile sensory input. In different experimental conditions, we covered between one and three fingers opposing the thumb. Normal forces at each finger and the thumb were recorded while grasping and holding the object, with and without the thimble. Consistently with previous studies, reducing tactile sensitivity increased the overall grasping force. The gasping force increased in the covered finger, whereas it did not change from baseline in the remaining bare fingers (except the thumb for equilibrium constraints). Digit placement and object tilt were not systematically affected by rubber thimble conditions. Our results suggest that, in each finger opposing thumb, digit normal force is controlled locally in response to the applied tactile perturbation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yasemin B Gultekin
- Neurobiology of Vocal Communication, Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Functional Imaging Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Alessandro Moscatelli
- Department of Systems Medicine and Centre of Space Biomedicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.,Laboratory of Neuromotor Physiology, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Marc O Ernst
- Applied Cognitive Psychology, Faculty for Computer Science, Engineering, and Psychology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
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Static prehension of a horizontally oriented object in three dimensions. Exp Brain Res 2011; 216:249-61. [PMID: 22071684 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-011-2923-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2011] [Accepted: 10/24/2011] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
We studied static prehension of a horizontally oriented object. Specific hypotheses were explored addressing such issues as the sharing patterns of the total moment of force across the digits, presence of mechanically unnecessary digit forces, and trade-off between multi-digit synergies at the two levels of the assumed control hierarchy. Within the assumed hierarchy, at the upper level, the task is shared between the thumb and virtual finger (an imagined finger producing a wrench equal to the sum of the wrenches of individual fingers). At the lower level, action of the virtual finger is shared among the four actual fingers. The subjects held statically a horizontally oriented handle instrumented with six-component force/torque sensors with different loads and torques acting about the long axis of the handle. The thumb acted from above while the four fingers supported the weight of the object. When the external torque was zero, the thumb produced mechanically unnecessary force of about 2.8 N, which did not depend on the external load magnitude. When the external torque was not zero, tangential forces produced over 80% of the total moment of force. The normal forces by the middle and ring fingers produced consistent moments against the external torque, while the normal forces of the index and little fingers did not. Force and moment variables at both hierarchical levels were stabilized by covaried across trials adjustments of forces/moments produced by individual digits with the exception of the normal force analyzed at the lower level of the hierarchy. There was a trade-off between synergy indices computed at the two levels of the hierarchy for the three components of the total force vector, but not for the moment of force components. Overall, the results have shown that task mechanics are only one factor that defines forces produced by individual digits. Other factors, such as loading sensory receptors may lead to mechanically unnecessary forces. There seems to be no single rule (for example, ensuring similar safety margin values) that would describe sharing of the normal and tangential forces and be valid across tasks. Fingers that are traditionally viewed as less accurate (e.g., the ring finger) may perform more consistently in certain tasks. The observations of the trade-off between the synergy indices computed at two levels for the force variables but not for the moment of force variables suggest that the degree of redundancy (the number of excessive elemental variables) at the higher level is an important factor.
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Within-trial modulation of multi-digit forces to friction. Exp Brain Res 2011; 211:17-26. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-011-2628-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2010] [Accepted: 03/07/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Diermayr G, McIsaac TL, Gordon AM. Finger Force Coordination Underlying Object Manipulation in the Elderly – A Mini-Review. Gerontology 2011; 57:217-27. [DOI: 10.1159/000295921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2009] [Accepted: 01/15/2010] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
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Uygur M, de Freitas PB, Jaric S. Effects of varying the load force range and frequency on force coordination in static manipulation. Neurosci Lett 2010; 475:115-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.03.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2009] [Revised: 03/08/2010] [Accepted: 03/22/2010] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Alberts JL, Wolf SL. The use of kinetics as a marker for manual dexterity after stroke and stroke recovery. Top Stroke Rehabil 2009; 16:223-36. [PMID: 19740729 DOI: 10.1310/tsr1604-223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Stroke is the leading cause of severe, long-term disability among older adults in the United States. Unimanual motor performance of the hemiparetic limb is clearly compromised, and these declines are well documented. An often overlooked aspect of motor function for patients with stroke is the effect of unilateral motor dysfunction on bimanual motor activities. Diminished bimanual function resulting from upper extremity hemiparesis necessarily limits the patient's daily functioning. In this review we describe a bimanual dexterity task that replicates many daily activities and outline how kinetic analysis of this task may provide insight into diminished bimanual function of patients with stroke and how these variables may be useful in assessing level of recovery and rate of motor recovery associated with behavioral interventions intended to improve upper extremity function. It is argued that the use of objective kinetic measures to quantify hand function may facilitate the clinical adoption of behavioral interventions for stroke, such as constraint-induced movement therapy and other repetitive task practice-based interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jay L Alberts
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Center for Neurological Restoration, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland FES Center, Ohio, USA
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