Assessment of Motor Adaptation in Precision Grip Performance of Children

Assessment of Motor Adaptation in Precision Grip Performance of Children: a Kinetic Analysis of Responsive Grip Behavior

Preterm children usually suffer from mild hand motor performance, however, the problem are rarely detected in time. Identifying the pathology causing deficits in sensorimotor control of a hand helps the occupational therapist to determine appropriate clinical decision-making for intervention. Well-motor performance requires complete sensorimotor control. Understanding hand sensorimotor control mechanism and its neural control can help clinicians find the reason behind hand motor deficits. The analysis of motion adaptation of the precision pinch behavior in the perturbing environment has been regarded as a clinically meaningful tool for evaluating sensorimotor control of a hand, especially for the complex anatomical structure of bone and tendon. The motor adaptation analysis for the precision grip behavior can provide the temporal and spatial parameters of dynamic grip force adjustment. Therefore, the exploration of motor adjustment can provide in-depth understanding of the neural mechanisms that lead to impairment of motor function and skill acquisition of a child, which can assist clinical occupational therapist in identifying the cause and severity of impairment of children's hand skills and provide appropriate strategies and types of treatment. The recent research on children's motor adaptation focuses on the discussion of the efficiency of motor adaptation in unfamiliar or disturbing task situations. Thus, the first purpose of this research is to develop an easy-to-detect apparatus to detect the adjustment efficiency of a responsive grip behavior of children in a disturbing pinch-lifting task and to construct the reliability of its evaluation. The second purpose of the research is to understand the correlation between the efficiency of children's reactive pinch performance adjustment and the results of traditional evaluation of fine motor development scale and sensorimotor control assessments. The third purpose of the research is to analyze the difference in motor adjustment of a precision pinch performance at different ages of preschool children. The fourth purpose is to compare the efficiency of motor adaptation in preterm and term children. In addition, preterm birth is often accompanied by white matter abnormalities and affects future hand motor performance. Investigating white matter imaging markers for predicting motor adaptation can help early detection of problems. Therefore, the fifth objective was to explore whether specific white matter imaging markers can predict the efficiency of reactive motor adaptation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Hand Strength, Child, Sensation, White Matter
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Diffusion tensor imaging

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 65

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Tainan, Taiwan, 704
    • National Cheng-Kung University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 39 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

healthy adults: 20-39 years old term children: 24-60 months preterm children: 24-48 months

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Must be able to do reach-to-grasp performance
2. Intact comprehension ability

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnosis of cerebral palsy and other genetic or congenital damage
2. Bone and nerve damage in the upper limbs in the past year
3. Un-correctable problems of vision or hearing impairment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
group of preterm and term children; group 1: preterm children group 2: term children	Diagnostic test: Diffusion tensor imaging; white matter imaging markers
group of different ages of preschool children; group 1: children with age of 25 months-36 months group 2: children with age of 37 months-48 months group 3: children with age of 49 months-60 months

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
responsive grip behavior	amplitude of pinch force development or adaptation to perturbation	up to 2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition	for diagnosing developmental delays in early childhood	up to 2 years
Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Second Edition	measure interrelated motor abilities of children from birth through age 5 years of age	up to 2 years
Tuning Fork 128 Hz	measure vibration sense	up to 2 years
Box and blocks test	measure upper limb coordination	up to 2 years
Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test	measure touch-pressure sense	up to 2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Cheng-Kung University Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 12, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 9, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 12, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 5, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 6, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): October 10, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 11, 2024
• Last Verified: November 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Hand Strength, Child, Sensation, White matter
• Other Study ID Numbers: B-BR-110-072

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No