Assessment of Manual Dexterity Performance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease
摘要
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, leading to characteristic motor symptoms. Bradykinesia is one of these symptoms, which indicates slowness of movement. In complex, multi-joint movements of the upper limbs, such as grasping and picking up a glass of water, bradykinesia becomes even more prominent in PD, impairing the quality of life of these patients. These movements involve gross and fine manual dexterity skills. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the performance of patients with PD during fine and gross manual dexterity tasks with induced stops, in both the ON and OFF stages of medication. Five patients with PD performed the Box and Block Test task (for gross manual dexterity) and Nine-Hole Peg Test (fine manual dexterity) in an induced stop protocol. The number of blocks transferred per second and the total number of blocks transferred in BBT and the time it took the participants to complete the NHPT were evaluated. Our results showed that patients in the PD-ON group transferred more blocks per second and a higher total number of blocks in the BBT than those in the PD-OFF group, while there was no difference in NHPT completion time between the groups. Thus, this study emphasizes the potential of these tests for standardized assessment of the upper limb in patients with PD.