Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 3998: Device Development for Detecting Thumb Opposition Impairment Using Carbon Nanotube-Based Strain Sensors

Sensors, Vol. 20, Pages 3998: Device Development for Detecting Thumb Opposition Impairment Using Carbon Nanotube-Based Strain Sensors Sensors doi: 10.3390/s20143998 Authors: Tomoyuki Kuroiwa Akimoto Nimura Yu Takahashi Toru Sasaki Takafumi Koyama Atsushi Okawa Koji Fujita Research into hand-sensing is the focus of various fields, such as medical engineering and ergonomics. The thumb is essential in these studies, as there is great value in assessing its opposition function. However, evaluation methods in the medical field, such as physical examination and computed tomography, and existing sensing methods in the ergonomics field have various shortcomings. Therefore, we conducted a comparative study using a carbon nanotube-based strain sensor to assess whether opposition movement and opposition impairment can be detected in 20 hands of volunteers and 14 hands of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome while avoiding existing shortcomings. We assembled a measurement device with two sensors and attached it to the dorsal skin of the first carpometacarpal joint. We measured sensor expansion and calculated the correlation coefficient during thumb motion. The average correlation coefficient significantly increased in the patient group, and intrarater and interrater reliability were good. Thus, the device accurately detected thumb opposition impairment due to carpal tunnel syndrome, with superior sensitivity and specificity relative to conventional manual inspection, ...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Letter Source Type: research