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Muscle activation during hand dexterity tasks in women with hand osteoarthritis and control subjects
Kristina M Calder1, Victoria Galea, Jean Wessel
1MacHANd Laboratory, School of Rehabilitation Science, Institute of Applied Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Study Design:
Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Introduction:
Hand osteoarthritis (OA) is a condition that results in hand pain and disability. It is important to understand how muscle function impairments contribute to impaired dexterity.
Purpose Of The Study:
To compare muscle activation in women with and without hand OA and determine if the activation relates to measures of impairment and disability.
Methods:
Electromyography (EMG) was recorded from four muscles of the hand/forearm while subjects threaded (assembly) and unthreaded (disassembly) a small bolt. The groups were compared on the integrated EMG (IEMG) of four muscles using two-way repeated-measures analyses of covariance for the assembly and disassembly tasks.
Results:
No differences were found in muscle activation between groups when IEMG values were normalized by time (p>0.05).
Conclusions:
Patients with OA have some indicators of altered muscle function. It is unclear whether these are adaptive or predisposing changes. When controlling for the time to perform a task, there were no significant IEMG differences between women with hand OA and control subjects.
Level Of Evidence:
2b.
