Pen-grip kinetics in children with and without handwriting difficulties

Yu-Chen Lin; Chieh-Hsiang Hsu; Cheng-Feng Lin; Hsiu-Yun Hsu; Jin-Wei Liu; Chien-Hsien Yeh; Li-Chieh Kuo

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270466

Pen-grip kinetics in children with and without handwriting difficulties

PLoS One. 2022 Jun 24;17(6):e0270466. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270466. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yu-Chen Lin^{1

2

3}, Chieh-Hsiang Hsu⁴, Cheng-Feng Lin⁵, Hsiu-Yun Hsu^{3

6}, Jin-Wei Liu⁷, Chien-Hsien Yeh⁸, Li-Chieh Kuo^{2

3

4

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational Therapy, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan.
² Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
³ Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁷ Tainan Rehab Clinic, Tainan, Taiwan.
⁸ Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.

Abstract

Introduction: Handwriting difficulty (HD) is a widely discussed issue. Previous researchers have revealed many valuable kinematics related to the handwriting performance. However, a clear understanding of the kinetics of handwriting performance in children with HD is still lacking. Therefore, this study investigated the writing performance of children with HD via a force acquisition pen (FAP), which detects the force applied from the digits and pen tip.

Methods: Data from 64 school-age children were divided into control (36 children without HD; mean age: 7.97 years) and HD (28 children with HD; mean age: 8.67 years) groups. The participants were asked to perform a tracing task using the FAP at their usual writing pace.

Results: Compared with the control group, the HD group had significantly less pen-tip force, an average amount of force (in-air) from all three digits, higher force variations (whole task) in the index finger, less force fluctuations with the index and middle fingers and a smaller force ratio.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that an understanding of the handwriting kinetics and the role of digits in handwriting may be crucial for further planning strategies for handwriting training for children with HD.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Biomechanical Phenomena
Child
Fingers
Hand Strength*
Handwriting*
Humans
Kinetics

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the Medical Device Innovation Center, National Cheng Kung University from the Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan. The authors are also honoured to acknowledge the Ministry of Science and Technology TAIWAN for partially funding this work (MOST 104-2314-B-006 -018 -MY3). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.