Roldão E¹* and Gil Pascoal A²

¹School of Health Sciences, CITechCare, Polytechnic of Leiria, Portugal
²Faculty of Human Kinetics, CIPER, LBMF, University of Lisbon, Portugal

*Corresponding Author: Roldão E, School of Health Sciences, CITechCare, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal.

Received: January 02, 2023; Published: March 04, 2023

Abstract

The grasp strength assessment is a global measure, and the current standardized assessment considers one configuration: the Hook Grasp corresponding to the second position of the dynamometer handle. The grasps configurations were recently classified in a new taxonomy sponsored by the European Commission and organized by the number of strength vectors, contact between the object and the hand, strength, and thumb position. The main objective of this work is to verify if it is possible to assess the grasp strength of the configurations, in this taxonomy, using the Biometrics E-Link® G200 Dynamometer. This experimental study analysed the grasp configurations compatible with the used of the dynamometer, in its five handle positions, maintaining the American Society of Hand Therapists assessment protocol. A caliper was used to measure the diameter of the dynamometer and the results cross with the characteristics of the grasps, regarding their diameter. There were identified eight grasps, which complied with it. Then were verified the possibility to apply these grasp configurations assessment in 60 participants without (N=30) and with neuromusculoskeletal hand pathology (N=30). Eight grasp configurations can be assessed with the Dynamometer G200. The strength behavior was identical to the described in the literature in participants with and without hand pathology. This would be useful for clinicians and therapists working in hand rehabilitation, assessing, and relating grasps with their use in daily tasks considering their configuration. This approach is focused on the patient and his grasping problems. Recommendations for this assessment are made.

Keywords: Grasp; Strength; Assessment; Grasp Taxonomy

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Citation

Citation: Roldão E and Gil Pascoal A. “Is it Possible to Assess more Grasps Configurations? A New Assessment Approach on Hand Strength”. Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 6.4 (2023): 13-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2023 Roldão E and Gil Pascoal A. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.