Analysing finger interdependencies during the Purdue Pegboard Test and comparative activities of daily living

Study Design: Bench, Cross-sectional Introduction: Information obtained from dexterity tests is an important component of a comprehensive examination of the hand. Purpose of the Study: To analyse and compare finger interdependencies during the performance of the Purdue Pegboard Test and comparative daily tasks. Methods: A method based on the optoelectronic kinematic analysis of the precision grip style and on the calculation of cross-correlation coefficients between relevant joint angles, which provided measures of the degree of finger coordination, was conducted on 10 healthy participants performing the Purdue Pegboard Test and two comparative daily living tasks. Results: Daily tasks showed identifiable interdependencies patterns between the metacarpophalangeal joints of the fingers involved in the grip. Tasks related to activities of daily living resulted in significantly higher cross-correlation coefficients across subjects and across movements during the formation and manipulation phases of the tasks (0.7-0.9), while the release stage produced significantly lower movement correlation values (0.3-0.7). Contrarily, the formation and manipulation stages of the Purdue Pegboard Test showed low finger correlation across most subjects (0.2-0.6), while the release stage resulted in the highest values for all relevant movements (0.65-0.9). Discussion: Interdependencies patterns were consistent for the activities of daily living, but differ from the patterns observed from the Purdue Pegboard Test. Conclusions: The Purdue Pegboard Test does not compare well with the whole range of finger movements that account for hand performance during daily tasks.