Assessment Overview

Purpose: Standardized, quantitative assessment used to measure finger dexterity

Summary: There are 9 holes in a wooden board, and the individual must place one peg at a time in each hole as fast as they can. The individual then removes each peg as quickly as they can. One hand is used at a time and the time is recorded in seconds for how long it takes to place and remove the pegs. The test should be performed with both hands.

Equipment: Stopwatch, wood board with 9 holes, 9 pegs

ICF Category: Activity

Assessment Handout

Assessment Psychometrics

Neuro PT EDGE recommends (¾) the use of this outcome measure with Hoehn and Yahr stages I-IV of disability. It is not recommended (¼) for stage V because there have not been enough studies done with this population. Students should learn to administer this outcome measure, but it has not been validated for use in intervention studies for the Parkinson’s Disease population. The psychometrics available on the use of the 9-Hole Peg Test with the Parkinson’s Disease population are presented in the list below.

• Mean Data: Normative data is available based on Hoehn and Yahr stage as well as a study looking at the effects of medication and test performance

• MDC: 2.6 sec for Dominant Hand (DH); 1.3 sec for Non-Dominant Hand NDH

  • With medication:

    • 5.65 sec for DH

    • 6.46 sec for NDH

    • 6.51 sec for more affected hand

    • 5.88 sec for less affected hand

  • Without medication:

    • 7.37 sec for DH

    • 5.65 sec for NDH

    • 5.96 sec for more affected hand

    • 7.01 sec for less affected hand

• SEM: 1.02 secs for DH; 0.82 sec for NDH

  • With medication:

    • 2.04 sec for DH

    • 2.33 sec for NDH

    • 2.35 sec for more affected hand

    • 2.12 sec for less affected hand

  • Without medication:

    • 2.66 sec for DH

    • 2.04 sec for NDH

    • 2.15 sec for more affected hand

    • 2.52 sec for less affected hand

• Test-retest: Excellent, ICC=0.88 for DH and ICC=0.91 for NDH; Adequate, ICC=0.70-0.81