Studies on finger kinematics, especially the range of motion (RoM) measurements, are essential to understand the use of finger joints and the pathology of related disease. Limited literatures compared the active RoM (A-RoM) of finger joints with either their functional RoM (F-RoM) or passive RoM (p-RoM) using different measuring protocols and tools. This study aims to provide an overall comparison including all three types of RoMs. We measured A-RoM, F-RoM, and P-RoM, using a dynamic measurement system. Our goal is to investigate the relationships among the three RoMs by comparing their extreme rotation angles. The results suggested that P-RoM was the largest motion range, and F-RoM can exceed their A-RoM. The F-RoM of distal-interphalangeal joints may rotated 8–20° more than their A-RoM, mainly during precise and power manipulations. Besides to A-RoM, knowledge of F-RoM and P-RoM are also important for a comprehensive understanding for clinical practice, and thus, to support the optimization and evaluation of treatment devices for finger joint, such as implant replacement.

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Temporal binding refers to a systemic bias in the perceived time interval between two related events, most frequently voluntary motor actions and a subsequent sensory effect. An inevitable component of most instrumental motor actions is tactile feedback. Yet, the role of tactile feedback within this phenomenon remains largely unexplored. Here, we used local anesthesia of the index finger to temporarily inhibit incoming sensory input from the finger itself, while participants performed an interval-estimation task in which they estimated the delay between a voluntary motor action (button press) and a second sensory event (click sound). Results were compared to a control condition with intact sensation. While clear binding was present in both conditions, the effect was significantly enhanced when tactile feedback was temporarily removed via local anesthesia. The results are discussed in light of current debates surrounding the underlying mechanisms and function of this temporal bias.

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Measuring the motions of human hand joints is often a challenge due to the high number of degrees-of-freedom. In this study, we proposed a hand tracking system utilizing action cameras and ArUco markers to continuously measure the rotation angles of hand joints during motion. Three methods were developed to estimate the joint rotation angles. The pos-based method transforms marker positions to a reference coordinate system and extracts a hand skeleton to identify the rotation angles. Similarly, the orient-x-based method calculates the rotation angles from the transformed x-orientations of the detected markers in the reference coordinate system. In contrast, the orient-mat-based method first identifies the rotation angles in each camera coordinate system using the detected orientations and then synthesizes the results regarding each joint. Experiment results indicated that the repeatability errors with one camera regarding different marker sizes were around 2.64–27.56 deg and 0.60–2.36 deg using the marker positions and orientations, respectively. With multiple cameras employed, the joint rotation angles measured by using the three methods were compared with that measured by a goniometer. Comparison results indicated that the results of using the orient-mat-based method are more stable and efficient and can describe more types of movements. The effectiveness of this method was further verified by capturing hand movements of several participants. Therefore, it is recommended for measuring joint rotation angles in practical setups.@en

Measuring the motion of human hand joints is a challenging task due to the high number of DOFs. In this study, we proposed a low-cost hand tracking system built on action cameras and ArUco markers to measure finger joint rotation angles. The lens distortion of each camera was corrected first via intra-calibration and the videos of different cameras were aligned to the reference camera using a dynamic time warping based method. Two methods were proposed and implemented for extracting the rotation angles of finger joints: one is based on the 3D positions of the markers via inter-calibration between cameras, named pos-based method; the other one is based on the relative marker orientation information from individual cameras, named rot-based method. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed system. The right hand of a volunteer was included in this practical study, where the movement of the fingers was recorded and the finger rotation angles were calculated with the two proposed methods, respectively. The results indicated that although using the rot-based method may collect less data than using the pos-based method, it was more stable and reliable. Therefore, the rot-based method is recommended for measuring finger joint rotation in practical setups.

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This paper presents insights from an exploratory study into the experience of orthopaedic rehabilitationthat sought to support patients in self-care. In a research-through-design study, rough prototypes were generated and patient needs elicited. The project was a collaboration between an academic designer, a design agency, and an orthopaedic surgeon, and included perspectives from hand therapists and patients themselves. The study showed thatpatients greatly appreciatedata support of hand rehabilitation exercises, because it helps them adjust and pace their perspective and experience of getting better. From a reflection onthe prototypes in relation to the patient experience we also concluded that the prototypes do not fully help patients with one thing yet: not doing anything and staying calm.This yielded a new research goaland thus a new sub-program of research.@en

Staying motivated is a known problem in rehabilitation, for example in orthopaedics. Isolated behaviour change interventions often fall short. EDUS (empowering data use in situ) proposes an approach to orthopaedic patients' rehabilitation that is based on their own location and local living environment and supported by data use. The case example is wrist rehabilitation of patients with combined conditions where these affect self-efficacy, because motivation is key here. Insights from this case may be transferable to other, broader groups. The project approach is research-through-design, eliciting patient needs through data feedback prototypes.@en

Patient-centred care is becoming more important in healthcare. The success of patient-centred care can be assessed by exploring the patient experience through a patient journey map. As the number of outpatient surgeries is increasing, it is important to reveal the specific characteristics of this type of surgery. The perioperative patient experience is considered very important for outpatient surgery, because all perioperative activities are condensed in one day. To investigate this experience, we performed a case study of hand and wrist surgery. Six teams of two industrial design engineering students interviewed 40 patients in total in two private and two public hospitals in the Netherlands. All teams created a patient journey map, describing the patient experience. These maps were analysed by the authors to identify common themes among the six journeys. Four time-independent themes and four time-dependent themes were identified. Insecurity, reassurance by staff, loneliness, and lack of information were associated with the whole patient experience. Before surgery, lack of control was the most prominent experience. During surgery, acceptance and curiosity were present. After surgery, relief was the dominant experience. No significant differences between the public and private hospitals were discovered. Several suggestions are given on how to facilitate positive experiences and how to resolve negative experiences in outpatient surgery. These include suggestions for hospital policy and design interventions.@en