Stability of handwriting performance following injury-induced hand-dominance transfer in adults: a pilot study

The aim of this study was to quantify stability of nondominant handwriting kinematics and legibility in participants with functional loss of the previously dominant hand. Twelve adult volunteers provided two handwriting samples 6 weeks apart. Handwriting tasks (Compose a Sentence, Copy Alphabet, Copy Date, Copy Sentence, and Draw Circles) were performed in cursive writing on standard white, lined paper taped to a digitizer to record kinematic and kinetic variables of velocity, displacement, force, and on-paper time. Results showed minimal performance variability within subjects and marked variability between subjects, as well as variability between tasks for all participants. Stylistic stability of the handwriting samples was assessed by two independent evaluators. These evaluators matched all handwriting samples at test to retest times with 89%-100% accuracy, suggesting value in the "whole" handwriting sample and emphasizing the idiosyncratic nature of handwriting. Results suggest that handwriting skill stability in the previously nondominant hand varies across subjects and task demands.