Masters Applied Projects

Project 34

Investigating How Training Improves Dexterous Finger Force Control

Student:
Emmanuella Tagoe

Mentors:

Dr. Christopher Buneo, PhD - Arizona State University, SBHSE
Dr. Marco Santello, PhD - Arizona State University, SBHSE
Dr. Sydney Schaefer, PhD - Arizona State University, SBHSE

YouTube Link:
View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom Link:
https://asu.zoom.us/j/87560457658


Abstract
Many activities of daily living like buttoning shirts or threading a needle require dexterous control of appropriate forces (or movement) of individual fingers. However, intending to move one finger is usually accompanied by movement of other unintended fingers, making it challenging to perform these tasks. This phenomenon is known as Finger Force Enslaving and is highly characteristic of stroke patients and toddlers imposing challenges in their daily lives. Previous research showed that intense and long-term piano practice enhances individual finger movement and control. This research focuses on investigating how short-term training reduces finger force enslaving and hence improves dexterous finger force control in healthy populations. We designed and evaluated the efficacy of a novel training protocol to improve independent finger force control. We utilized force transducers (ATI Nano-17, Apex, NC, USA) to measure individual finger forces and Quattrocento (OT Bioelettronica, Torino, Italy) to record high-density surface electromyography (sEMG) for examining muscle activations pre-and post-training. We anticipate that, in stroke patients, this training protocol might alleviate their impaired hand function, which is highly characterized by higher finger force enslaving for stroke rehabilitation.