Article

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of a short-term dexterity-training program on
muscle tremor and the performance of hand precision tasks in patients with
essential tremor (ET). DESIGN: Three testing sessions: baseline, after 4 weeks
without any interventions (control), and after 4 weeks of dexterity-training
carried out 3 times per week. SETTING: Biomechanics research laboratory.
PARTICIPANTS: Patients (N=8) with a diagnosis of ET. INTERVENTION: Training
program consisted of 12 dexterity training sessions where each session comprised
4 tasks involving both goal-directed manual movements and hand postural
exercises. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Testing included an ET-specific quality of life
questionnaire and postural and kinetic tremor assessments. Each training session
was scored to evaluate the performance. RESULTS: After training, improvements
were observed in the performance of the 2 goal-directed tasks (P<.01); however,
postural and kinetic tremor did not change. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that
dexterity training could be effective in increasing fine manual control during
goal-directed movements, which are known to be the most compromised in this
pathology. The absence of a decrease in tremor severity highlights the necessity
for developing this novel training technique further, perhaps over a longer
period of time. This study could provide guidelines for the prescription of
self-directed and personalized home-based exercises and will offer clinicians a
treatment that might be used as an adjuvant or an alternative to the classical
pharmacotherapy.
CI - Copyright (c) 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS