Thumbs up: movements made by the thumb are smoother and larger than fingers in finger-thumb opposition tasks.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In humans, the thumb plays a crucial role in producing finger opposition movements. These movements form the basis of several activities of the hand. Hence these movements have been used to study phenomena like prehension, motor control, motor learning, etc. Although such tasks have been studied extensively, the relative contribution of the thumb vis-à-vis the fingers in finger opposition tasks is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the kinematics of thumb and fingers in a simple finger opposition task. Further, we quantified the relative contribution and the movement smoothness aspects and compared these between fingers and thumb.

Methods

Eight, young healthy participants (four males and four females) were asked to perform a full finger to thumb o

SUBMITTER: Rachaveti D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6196073 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature