Finger taps movement acceleration measurement system for quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a finger taps acceleration measurement system for the quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The system was composed of two 3-axis piezoelectric element accelerometers, a pair of touch sensors made of thin stainless steel sheets, an analog-digital(AD) converter and a personal computer (PC). Fingerstalls,with these sensors, were attached to subject's index finger and thumb. The acceleration and output of the touch sensors were recorded using the PC during the finger taps movements. Intervals between the single finger taps movements were calculated from the measured output of the touch sensors. Velocities during the single finger taps movements were calculated by integrating the measured acceleration. The amplitudes were calculated by integrating the velocities. The standard deviation of the single finger taps intervals, average of maximum single finger taps velocities and average of maximum single finger taps amplitudes were calculated from them. They were used as features for the quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The developed system was used to conduct finger taps tests employing 27 normal subjects and 16 Parkinson's diseases subjects. The subjects were asked to execute continuous finger taps movement for 60 s. It was shown that the acceleration and output of the touch sensors could be measured and the features could be extracted.

Music-supported motor training after stroke reveals no superiority of synchronization in group therapy

“…The index finger and thumb moved to touch each other and then moved apart again to a distance of about 5 cm (but at least 2 cm). The thumb-to-index tapping movement was chosen because it was previously argued to be more natural and a more reliable reflection of activities of daily living (Okuno et al, 2006). …”

Combined Vision and Wearable Sensors-based System for Movement Analysis in Rehabilitation

“…In our finger tapping test, subjects are direct ed to perform twenty consecutive touches between the thumb and index finger tips as fast as possible with the elbow fixed on the table. It has been widely studied and some attempts at its quantification are reported in [22,28,29,49]. In some of these approaches, sensors are attached at the thumb and index finger tips making contact detections during the finger-tapping movement performance.…”

“…In some of these approaches, sensors are attached at the thumb and index finger tips making contact detections during the finger-tapping movement performance. In [22,49] measurement system is composed of two accelerometers, while in [28,29] magnetic sensors are used. The main drawback of these systems is the analysis of one particular movement since, due to the sensor placement, only the evaluation of the fingertapping movement is feasible.…”

Estimation of human finger tapping forces based on a fingerpad-stiffness model

“…For the measurement of force, it should be noted that attaching a sensor to the finger contact surface (i.e., the fingerpad) causes an adverse effect on natural finger tapping movement. To overcome this problem, Okuno et al [9] proposed a force estimation method that uses an acceleration sensor attached to the fingernails of the thumb and index finger to identify the relationship between fingertip acceleration and force in finger tapping movements. However, the acceleration sensor is affected not only by finger acceleration but also by hand acceleration, making it potentially difficult to evaluate forces in slow finger movements with no acceleration.…”