Background: The pronator drift test is widely used to detect mild arm weakness. We developed an application that runs on a handheld device to objectify the pronator drift test and investigated its feasibility in stroke patients.
Methods: The iPronator application, which uses the built-in accelerometer in handheld devices, was developed. We enrolled acute ischemic stroke patients (n = 10) with mild arm weakness and healthy controls (n = 10) to validate the iPronator. In addition to conventional neurological examinations, the degree of average, maximum, and oscillation in drift and pronation were measured and compared using the iPronator. Follow-up tests using the iPronator were also conducted in the patient group one week later.
Results: There was a strong correlation between the average degree of pronation and drift measured by the iPronator (r = 0.741, p<0.001). The degrees of average and maximum in pronation were greater in the patient group than in the control group [in average, 28.9°, interquartile range (IQR) 18.7-40.3 vs. 3.8° (IQR 0.3-7.5), p<0.001], in maximum, 33.0° (IQR 24.0-52.1) vs. 6.2° (IQR 1.4-9.4), p<0.001]. The degree of oscillation in pronation was not different between the groups (p = 0.166). In drift, the degrees of average, maximum, and oscillation were greater in the patient group. In stroke patients, a follow-up study at one week revealed improvements in the degrees of pronation and drift compared with baseline parameters.
Conclusions: The iPronator can reliably detect mild arm weakness of stroke patients and was also useful in detecting functional recovery for one week in patients with acute stroke.