Assessment of upper limb neuromuscular control via a target-pointing task: A reliability study

Objective: To examine the accuracy and reliability of upper limb target pointing among normal subjects. Design: Prospective observational. Setting: Community sports-medicine practice. Participants: 28 male and female normal right-handed volunteers age 22-35 years. Intervention: 8-point target-pointing task completed with both upper limbs. Main Outcome Measures: Accuracy of point reproduction (cm error) and reliability over time (ICC_2,1). Results: Target-pointing errors were 4.8-9.9 cm. Subject error and reach height explained 88% of performance variability. Error was greater when pointing to the lower half of the target (P < .05) and to ipsilateral points (P < .05). Gender, test day, reach length, and arm dominance did not affect accuracy. Test-retest reliability ranged from .30 to .71. Conclusion: Target-pointing tasks might be useful to assess upper limb neuromuscular control. Points with lower errors and greater reliabilities might be useful to differentiate normal vs abnormal performances, whereas a battery of reliable points over a spectrum of errors might be useful to document changes over time.