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a Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Lerner Research Institute
b Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
Guang H. Yue, Department of Biomedical Engineering/ND20, The Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195 E-mail: yue{at}bme.ri.ccf.org.
Decision Editor: John E. Morley, MB, BCh
Background. Aging is accompanied by a marked decline in muscle strength and ability to maintain steady submaximal force. Studies have shown that exercise programs can improve age-related regression of hand function in elderly individuals. The purpose of this study was to train elderly subjects to perform skilled finger movements and to evaluate the changes in hand function involving skillful use of finger pinch.
Methods. Grip strength, maximum pinch force (MPF), steadiness of pinch force at 5%, 10%, and 20% MPF, M wave, and Hoffman (H) reflex were measured. Fourteen elderly subjects were trained with skilled finger movements, and their performance involving finger pinch was measured.
Results. Compared with untrained elderly subjects, the trained older adults significantly (p < .05) improved their ability to control submaximal pinch force, to maintain a steady hand posture, and to relocate a small object quickly with finger grip. The amplitude of H reflex increased significantly for the trained group.
Conclusions. Skilled finger movement training improves the ability to control submaximal pinch force, hand steadiness, and manual speed in elderly subjects; these improvements may be due to training-induced adaptations in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
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