Suzuki H1, Wagatsuma K2, Suzuki M1, Murakami K1, Fujisawa H2
1Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University, Faculty of Medical Science and Welfare, Sendai-shi, Japan, 2Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University, Graduate School of Health and Environment Sciences, Sendai-shi, Japan
Background: Concern has risen recently about regenerative medicine and robot technology in the physical therapy field. Simultaneously, the physical therapist role has changed. Consequently, the importance of therapy performed by physical therapists' hands will increase. Moreover, medical standards and treatment goals are expected to be higher. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the guidance of movement by physical therapist's hands (handling) because handling has some aspects that are not amenable to quantification. Maximizing physical therapists´ skills related to the latest medical standards demands quantitative verification of handling characteristics related to physical therapy.
Purpose: This study was undertaken to elucidate kinematic characteristics of physical therapists´ handling skills.
Methods: The participants were 12 physical therapists working at hospitals (PT group) and 9 adults without experience in exercise guidance (control group). Before measurements, all participants watched a video of an adult man (video model) reaching the center of a target while avoiding a bar. Then all participants were asked to duplicate the motion five times, as confirmed by video, using an upper limb model created to a size equal to an adult man. Infrared reflective markers were set at the dorsal side of the tip of the upper limb model's middle finger and at the center of the concentric target. The fingertip trajectory was measured five times using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. Thereafter, the fingertip trajectory error was calculated from the video model and each participant's fingertip trajectory. Statistical analyses of fingertip trajectory error were conducted using Student t-tests with alpha set to 0.05.
Results: The fingertip trajectory error of the PT group was significantly smaller than that of the control group. The PT group was able to duplicate the motion trajectory of the video model better than the control group.
Conclusion(s): This result suggests that physical therapists are superior at duplicating the target motion, even at the first time of duplicating the motion. Analyses using other kinematic and kinematic parameters should be conducted in future studies.
Implications: Data obtained from this study can contribute to evidence of treatment by physical therapists' hands. They can also provide information supporting physiotherapy education, and can constitute evidence used in combination with development of medicine and medical technology.
Keywords: body handling, kinematic characteristic, physical therapist
Funding acknowledgements: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K17729.
Purpose: This study was undertaken to elucidate kinematic characteristics of physical therapists´ handling skills.
Methods: The participants were 12 physical therapists working at hospitals (PT group) and 9 adults without experience in exercise guidance (control group). Before measurements, all participants watched a video of an adult man (video model) reaching the center of a target while avoiding a bar. Then all participants were asked to duplicate the motion five times, as confirmed by video, using an upper limb model created to a size equal to an adult man. Infrared reflective markers were set at the dorsal side of the tip of the upper limb model's middle finger and at the center of the concentric target. The fingertip trajectory was measured five times using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. Thereafter, the fingertip trajectory error was calculated from the video model and each participant's fingertip trajectory. Statistical analyses of fingertip trajectory error were conducted using Student t-tests with alpha set to 0.05.
Results: The fingertip trajectory error of the PT group was significantly smaller than that of the control group. The PT group was able to duplicate the motion trajectory of the video model better than the control group.
Conclusion(s): This result suggests that physical therapists are superior at duplicating the target motion, even at the first time of duplicating the motion. Analyses using other kinematic and kinematic parameters should be conducted in future studies.
Implications: Data obtained from this study can contribute to evidence of treatment by physical therapists' hands. They can also provide information supporting physiotherapy education, and can constitute evidence used in combination with development of medicine and medical technology.
Keywords: body handling, kinematic characteristic, physical therapist
Funding acknowledgements: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K17729.
Topic: Human movement analysis; Disability & rehabilitation
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University
Ethics committee: Research ethics committee of Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University
Ethics number: n.18-3
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
