The effects of isometric hand grip force on wrist kinematics and forearm muscle activity during radial and ulnar wrist joint perturbations

Kailynn Mannella; Garrick N Forman; Maddalena Mugnosso; Jacopo Zenzeri; Michael W R Holmes

doi:10.7717/peerj.13495

The effects of isometric hand grip force on wrist kinematics and forearm muscle activity during radial and ulnar wrist joint perturbations

PeerJ. 2022 May 24:10:e13495. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13495. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kailynn Mannella¹, Garrick N Forman¹, Maddalena Mugnosso², Jacopo Zenzeri², Michael W R Holmes¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Kinesiology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada.
² Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to investigate forearm muscle activity and wrist angular displacement during radial and ulnar wrist perturbations across various isometric hand grip demands. Surface electromyography (EMG) was recorded from eight muscles of the upper extremity. A robotic device delivered perturbations to the hand in the radial and ulnar directions across four pre-perturbation grip magnitudes. Angular displacement and time to peak displacement following perturbations were evaluated. Muscle activity was evaluated pre- and post-perturbation. Results showed an inverse relationship between grip force and angular displacement (p ≤ 0.001). Time to peak displacement decreased as grip force increased (p ≤ 0.001). There was an increase in muscle activity with higher grip forces across all muscles both pre-and post-perturbation (p ≤ 0.001) and a greater average muscle activity in ulnar as compared to radial deviation (p = 0.02). This work contributes to the wrist joint stiffness literature by relating wrist angular displacement to grip demands during novel radial/ulnar perturbations and provides insight into neuromuscular control strategies.

Keywords: Biomechanics; Ergonomics; Grip force; Muscle activity; Wrist perturbations.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biomechanical Phenomena
Forearm* / physiology
Hand Strength / physiology
Muscle, Skeletal / physiology
Wrist Joint / physiology
Wrist* / physiology

Grants and funding

This work was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant and the Canada Research Chairs Program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.