Observational studyJournal of rehabilitation medicine2026
Specific components of manual dexterity are affected in patients with writer's cramp: an observational comparative study and preliminary rehabilitation report.
Observational study in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo compare manual dexterity in patients with writer's cramp and healthy controls to determine which components of dexterity are impaired in writer's cramp. In addition, to assess the effects of rehabilitation.
designCross-sectional primary study, longitudinal secondary study. SUBJECTS/PATIENTS: 23 patients with writer's cramp and 20 healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects.
methodsDegree of manual dexterity (through 3 tasks) and handwriting symptoms were assessed, and effects of rehabilitation probed.
resultsPatients with writer's cramp showed significantly lower handwriting speed (97 letters/min) and legibility (BFM score = 1.3) compared with control subjects (171 letters/min, p < 0.001; BFM score = 0.15, p < 0.001). Only the task quantifying finger independence showed weaker finger selectivity (median = 0.84) in patients compared with controls (median = 0.89, p = 0.01). The other 2 tasks, maximal finger tapping and visuomotor finger force-tracking, did not reveal significant group differences (all p > 0.44). In patients, automated writing legibility correlated with finger selectivity (r = 0.50, p = 0.02). Rehabilitation improved dexterity (selectivity and force-tracking) and automated writing legibility.
conclusionIn this multi-component analysis of manual dexterity, reduced selectivity of finger movements was identified as the main behavioural mechanism (deficit) in writer's cramp, associated with writing speed. In contrast, force control and tapping speed were unaffected. Selective finger activation can be improved with therapy targeting dextrous finger movements.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.