Development of a bottle-type sensor measuring two-hand movement

Daily life activities entail the coordinated movement of both hands. Although devices for evaluating the function of one hand are available, in addition, there are currently some limitations in devices for quantitatively evaluating the two-hand movement. This study aimed to develop and examine the validity of a device, called the bottle-type sensor, which can simultaneously measure two-hand movements. A bottle-type sensor was created by wrapping a newly developed high-precision flexible sensor sheet around a three-dimensional-printed cap and body part. The force component of each sensor was calculated from the load data, and the loads for each finger were summed. Thirty healthy adults participated in the study, 21 for validity and 9 for reliability. In the validity studies, the values for the body and cap part of the bottle-type sensor were correlated with the grip and pinch forces. For reliability studies, the intraclass correlation coefficient 2, 3 were calculated comparing the results after a day. Significant positive correlations with the body and cap parts of the bottle-type sensor were found for the grip and pinch forces. Reliability studies revealed that the body part of the bottle-type sensor had an ICC of >0.75. However, the cap part had an ICC of <0.75, which was insufficient. The bottle-type sensor developed in this study showed significant correlations with the grip and pinch forces, but the cap part did not yield satisfactory results in terms of reliability. In the future, the usefulness of the bottle-type sensor needs to be clarified by improving the cap part, as well as by evaluating it during two-hand movements and measuring it in patients with various diseases.