Bimanual isometric force control impairments in patients with Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease in the early stage show mild onset of motor symptoms that may affect negatively on bimanual force control and interlimb coordination. This current study investigated bimanual force control and coordination patterns in patients with early stage of PD.

All participants performed a bimanual isometric hand-grip force control task. We estimated mean force, force trend, force accuracy, force regularity, and bilateral motor synergy across multiple trials at two targeted force levels (10% and 40% of maximum voluntary contraction) in patients with Parkinson's disease and compared bimanual force control capabilities with healthy older adults. We conducted linear mixed model including Group, Force Level, and Group × Force Level interaction as fixed effects, and participant as random effects.

Our findings indicated that patients with Parkinson's disease showed lower submaximal force production during bimanual isometric force control. For bimanual force control capabilities and bimanual force coordination, patients with Parkinson's disease showed higher force error, force variability, regularity and lower bilateral motor synergy in comparison to healthy older adults. Additionally, more severe rigidity and tremor was related to greater impairments in bimanual force control.

These findings suggest that estimating bimanual force control capabilities may provide more information on fine motor control impairments in patients with PD.