ABSTRACT

Manual dexterity is often evaluated in rehabilitation because of its contribution to upper limb performance and to individual functional independence. Dexterity depends on age, sex, anthropometric measurements of the hand and sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to compare the finger dexterity with and without wearing different types of gloves (latex gloves and cotton gloves), and to investigate the correlation among the different measurement tools (VALPAR component work samples, O‘conner finger dexterity, and Minnesota groovedpegboard) for finger dexterity. Fifteen healthy young subjects (male: 6, female: 9) had a mean age of 26 years were evaluated. The results were as follows: There was no significant difference in finger dexterity between male and female group at all conditions except for wearing cotton glove condition. The finger dexterity was significant difference in Minnesota grooved pegboard test among conditions(barehand, latex gloves and cotton gloves).However, finger dexterities were no significant differenece in other tests at different conditions. There was high correlation between measurement tool except for the Size discrimination item in VALPAR test. The results of this study suggest that Minnesota grooved pegboard test maybe a sensitive tool to measure the finger dexterity at sensory constrained conditions.