Benefits of wrist splinting in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

ObjectivesThe goal was to present the use of a functional wrist splint and its impact on hand function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Material and methodsThe study group comprised 104 women aged 18–65 and diagnosed with RA, who were treated in the Rheumatology Clinic and Outpatient Department of the National Institute of Geriatrics, Rheumatology and Rehabilitation in Warsaw. The control group consisted of 40 healthy women in the same age group. Assessment of the hand function was the research method.ResultsOur results revealed substantially deteriorated function of the rheumatoid hand in relation to the healthy hand. The use of a wrist stabiliser is justified in patients with RA due to its beneficial impact, such as improved hand strength and dexterity and reduced pain. Based on the results obtained, it may be assumed that it is mainly patients with moderate and high disease activity who require stabilisation. The small number of patients in remission and with low disease activity was a limitation of the study. Hands with RA require an individual approach, and the most effective methods slowing down development of deformation should be sought. The results presented in this article may provide a starting point for further research on the most favourable wrist stabilisation in order to improve hand function in RA.ConclusionsOur study showed that the hand function of women with RA is limited due to deteriorated grip quality and manual dexterity in comparison to healthy persons. Wrist stabilisation improves hand function in patients with RA.

A Novel Perspective for Examining and Comparing Real and Virtual Test Tasks Performed by the Dominant and Non-Dominant Hand in Healthy Adults

“…In turn, Table 2 shows the obtained results of other real tests from the previous clinical study [68], such as, for example, "Turning Balls" or "Twisting a Bracket" (Figure 7A,B, respectively). In the case of the clinical tests, the statistically significant differences between the right and left hand were also observed in right-handed healthy control group, i.e., in the moving balls test about 1.1 ± 0.9 sec (p = 0.000002) and in the buckle twist test about 1.0 ± 1.5 sec (p = 0.00014).…”

“…Table 2. The example of results of the right and left hand in the healthy right-handed control group (n = 40) according to the clinical study using real clinical tests (data and analysis based on [68]).…”

“…The third method is derived from observation of the preferred use of hands in daily activities (e.g., self-grooming, gesturing) [64]. The fourth method estimates the differences between hands in actual skilled activities (e.g., speed and accuracy between hands, or coordination across muscles, fingers, and hands) by different functional tasks [65][66][67][68][69][70].…”

“…The fourth method estimates the differences between hands in actual skilled activities (e.g., speed and accuracy between hands, or coordination across muscles, fingers, and hands) by different functional tasks [65][66][67][68][69][70].…”

“…Figure 7. The illustration of selected real clinical tests: (A) "Turning Balls-Moving small balls from place to place"; and (B) "Twisting a Bracket-Locking turns (these and other tests are described in e.g.,[66,68,74].…”