Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is an efficacious treatment for chronic arm and hand impairment after stroke. A recent meta-analysis concluded that CIMT is more effective than alternative therapies or no treatment at all (1). Despite this evidence, CIMT is under-utilized. A difficult protocol and extraordinary demands on therapists' time are often cited (2). In the EXCITE trial of CI...

The increasing demand for robotic applications in today’s manufacturing environment motivates the scientists towards the design of dexterous end-effectors, which can cope with a wide variety of tasks. The human hand can serve as a model for a robotic hand for prehension, which interacts with the environment with more than twenty-seven degrees of freedom (dofs). The articulation and accommodatio...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In children having suffered from neonatal arterial ischemic stroke, the relationship between contralesional hand performance and structural changes in brain areas remote from the infarct site was examined. METHODS Using voxel-based morphometry, we correlated contralesional gross manual dexterity assessed by the box and block test and whole-brain gray and white-matter vo...

Background: The need for a strong grip in ‘ground’ martial arts is undisputed, but it not obvious karate. It may be expected that the case of advanced karate fighters where dynamic combat movements dominate, level speed skills will high. However, does style affect Ditrich rod dexterity and strength players’ handshake? Methods: 39 participants were analyzed, all whom elite fighters—21 Kyokushin ...

This work explores the functional and psychosocial impact of the multigrip Michelangelo (M) prosthetic hand. Transradial myoelectric prosthesis users (6 men, median age: 47 y) participated in a crossover longitudinal study. A multifactorial assessment protocol was applied before the application of M and after 3 mo (functional assessment) and 6 mo (psychosocial assessment) of home use. Functiona...

An efficient method for utilising a 2D camera to recognise hand gestures in 3D space is described. The work is presented within the context of a recuperation aid for younger children with impaired movement of the upper limbs on a standard Android tablet device. The hand movement recognition is achieved through attaching brightly coloured models to the child’s fingers, providing easily trackable...