A comparative study using electromyography to assess hand exercises for rehabilitation after ulnar nerve...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Ulnar nerve (UN) entrapment is a frequent cause of peripheral neuropathy, impacting hand sensory and motor functions.
• Current post-operative rehabilitation for UN entrapment lacks robust evidence, particularly for intrinsic hand muscles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the muscle activation patterns during various hand exercises in healthy individuals.
• To identify effective exercises for targeting UN-innervated intrinsic hand muscles in post-operative rehabilitation.

Main Methods:

• A cohort study involving healthy participants.
• Surface electromyography (EMG) was used to measure muscle activation during four distinct hand exercises.
• Exercises included baoding balls, stress ball squeezing, and rubber band resistance (RBR) finger abduction.
• Normalized percent muscle activation was calculated for intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles.

Main Results:

• Repetitive finger abduction against a rubber band (RBR) demonstrated significantly higher activation in intrinsic hand muscles.
• RBR exercise minimized the activation of the tested UN-innervated extrinsic hand muscle.
• This suggests RBR is effective for isolating intrinsic muscle activation.

Conclusions:

• Rubber band resistance (RBR) finger abduction is a practical and inexpensive exercise for post-ulnar nerve release rehabilitation.
• RBR effectively targets intrinsic hand muscles while minimizing fatigue in extrinsic muscles.
• This exercise offers a beneficial approach to enhance recovery of hand function after UN entrapment surgery.