Analysis of voluntary finger movements during hand tasks by a motion analyzer

Abstract Finger movements have primarily been classified by the final position of the hand and finger during deliberate hand activities, rather than as a description of the movement process. In addition, as of yet there have been no reports based upon objective data from the analysis of the motion of three finger joints during movement, and no reports exist that describe the relationship of the three joints' motion during these movements. This paper describes the relationship of the three finger joints during simple finger movements and hand tasks using measurements and analysis from a two-dimensional motion analyzer. Two prehensile movements were examined in 15 healthy volunteers: pure finger extension from finger flex position in different wrist positions (dorsi-flexion position, neutral position and palmar-flexion position of the wrist joint) and the grasping of discs of different diameter (10, 11, 12 and 13 cm). In the sequence of pure finger extension, where the grasping task was not requested, results showed that the movement was started from the proximal joint and extended to the distal joint of the finger, and full finger extension accomplished from distal to proximal, one after another, in any wrist position in most subjects. With the grasping of a disc, however, joint movement was initiated from distal to proximal and the final motion for grasping was carried to completion from the proximal to distal joints of the finger in most subjects. In addition, it was recognized that the proportion of the angular change in each of the three joints was different, as were the time duration of the joint motion and the pattern of the angular change. From these results, it is suggested that deliberate activities of the finger and sophisticated joint movements provided delicate adjustments to fit the fingers to the size of the object, as compared to the simple finger extension movement.