Upper Extremity Motor Performance During a Shirt Buttoning Task in Huntington's Disease.

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Movement Disorders
• Human Motor Control

Background:

• Huntington's Disease (HD) is characterized by motor impairments including chorea, bradykinesia, dystonia, and rigidity.
• These motor deficits significantly impact upper extremity (UE) function in daily activities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and analyze motor patterns and execution times for shirt buttoning in individuals with premanifest and manifest Huntington's Disease (HD) compared to controls.
• To investigate the relationship between clinical assessments and UE motor performance.
• To assess the interobserver reliability of the motor pattern coding system.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 30 manifest-HD, 9 premanifest-HD, and 30 control participants.
• Participants performed a shirt buttoning task (five buttons).
• Movement time and motor patterns were analyzed using Observer-XT software.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in movement time and motor patterns were observed between the groups.
• Individuals with manifest HD took approximately twice as long to complete the buttoning task compared to controls.
• Correlations were identified between motor task performance and clinical assessments, with excellent interobserver agreement for the coding system.

Conclusions:

• Evaluating specific motor patterns, like those in shirt buttoning, can aid in the early detection of motor impairment in Huntington's Disease (HD).
• This analysis is valuable for monitoring disease progression and for developing targeted rehabilitation programs.
• Such programs aim to maintain and improve upper extremity (UE) function in individuals affected by HD.