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Prehension Kinematics, Grasping Forces, and Independent Finger Control in Mildly Affected Patients with Essential Tremor

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Abstract

Although the pathophysiology of essential tremor (ET), one of the most common movement disorders, is not fully understood, evidence increasingly points to cerebellar involvement. To confirm this connection, we assessed the everyday hand and finger movements of patients with ET, as these movements are known to be affected in cerebellar diseases. In 26 mildly affected patients with ET (compared to age- and gender-matched controls), kinematic and finger force parameters were assessed in a precision grip. In a second task, independent finger movements were recorded. The active finger had to press and release against a force-sensitive keypad while the other fingers stayed inactive. Finally, control of grip force to movement-induced, self-generated load changes was studied. Transport and shaping components during prehension were significantly impaired in patients with ET compared to controls. No significant group differences were observed in independent finger movements and grip force adjustments to self-generated load force changes. However, in the latter two tasks, more severely affected ET patients performed worse than less affected. Although observed deficits in hand and finger movement tasks were small, they are consistent with cerebellar dysfunction in ET. Findings need to be confirmed in future studies examining more severely affected ET patients.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Kasja Solbach, Mareike Mumm, Barbara Brandauer & Dagmar Timmann

  2. Department of Pediatrics, St. Vinzenz-Hospital, Dinslaken, Germany

    Mareike Mumm

  3. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Barbara Brandauer

  4. Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, ML, USA

    Martin Kronenbürger

  5. Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Institute of Movement Science, Technische Universität München, 80992, Munich, Germany

    Joachim Hermsdörfer

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  1. Kasja Solbach
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Correspondence to Kasja Solbach.

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Solbach, K., Mumm, M., Brandauer, B. et al. Prehension Kinematics, Grasping Forces, and Independent Finger Control in Mildly Affected Patients with Essential Tremor. Cerebellum 15, 498–508 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-015-0717-1

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