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Abstract

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), a median nerve entrapment neuropathy, is characterized by manual dexterity deficits. Clinical diagnose involves electrophysiological evaluation to assess the extent of damage to the median nerve categorized from mild to severe CTS severity levels. However, the correlation between damage to the median nerve and the hand functional deficits in CTS is not well understood. To address this question, several recent studies have been conducted to quantify the behavioral consequences of CTS on grasping and manipulation. These studies have used biomechanical analyses to identify functional deficits in hand control due to sub-optimal sensorimotor integration caused by reduced tactile sensitivity at a subset of the digits. These deficits are revealed by tasks in which accurate performance relies on the ability to integrate sensory feedback with motor commands for coordinating digit forces and position. The findings of this research exhibits that chronic median nerve compression affects the ability to coordinate preprogrammed and feedback-driven control for effective and efficient force adaptation.

Biography

Email: wei.zhang@csi.cuny.edu