TY - JOUR
T1 - The effect of temperature on hand function in patients with tremor
AU - Cooper, Cynthia
AU - Evidente, Virgilio Gerald H.
AU - Hentz, Joseph G.
AU - Adler, Charles H.
AU - Caviness, John N.
AU - Gwinn-Hardy, Katrina
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by the Mayo Foundation. The paper was presented at the 22nd Annual Meeting of the ASHT, September 17-19,1999, in Orlando, Florida.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - Hand therapists may notice a patient's tremor when treating another diagnostic problem, such as arthritis or a fracture. In these instances, the tremor may become apparent as the patient attempts to don or doff a splint or to practice a home exercise program, or it may be reported in terms of difficulty with dressing or eating. The authors hypothesized that limb cooling would temporarily improve hand function among patients with essential tremor (ET) and that limb warming would temporarily improve hand function among patients with resting tremor secondary to Parkinson disease (PD). Twenty patients with ET and 20 patients with PD completed this single-blind randomized crossover study. Scores following exposure to cold water were compared with scores following exposure to warm water. For patients with ET, subtest scores for the Archimedes spiral, simulated feeding, and checkers were, statistically, significantly lower (i.e., improved) following exposure to cold water than following exposure to warm water; scores for Archimedes spiral, card turning, simulated feeding, and checkers were significantly lower following exposure to cold water than at baseline. Scores for Archimedes spiral and card turning were also significantly lower following exposure to warm water than at baseline. For patients with PD, no statistically significant differences were noted between treatments or from baseline except the score for small common objects, which was lower (improved) following exposure to warm water than at baseline. The significant findings from this study support the therapeutic use of cooling to temporarily decrease tremor, thereby improving hand function among patients with ET.
AB - Hand therapists may notice a patient's tremor when treating another diagnostic problem, such as arthritis or a fracture. In these instances, the tremor may become apparent as the patient attempts to don or doff a splint or to practice a home exercise program, or it may be reported in terms of difficulty with dressing or eating. The authors hypothesized that limb cooling would temporarily improve hand function among patients with essential tremor (ET) and that limb warming would temporarily improve hand function among patients with resting tremor secondary to Parkinson disease (PD). Twenty patients with ET and 20 patients with PD completed this single-blind randomized crossover study. Scores following exposure to cold water were compared with scores following exposure to warm water. For patients with ET, subtest scores for the Archimedes spiral, simulated feeding, and checkers were, statistically, significantly lower (i.e., improved) following exposure to cold water than following exposure to warm water; scores for Archimedes spiral, card turning, simulated feeding, and checkers were significantly lower following exposure to cold water than at baseline. Scores for Archimedes spiral and card turning were also significantly lower following exposure to warm water than at baseline. For patients with PD, no statistically significant differences were noted between treatments or from baseline except the score for small common objects, which was lower (improved) following exposure to warm water than at baseline. The significant findings from this study support the therapeutic use of cooling to temporarily decrease tremor, thereby improving hand function among patients with ET.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0894-1130(00)80019-8
DO - 10.1016/S0894-1130(00)80019-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 11129253
AN - SCOPUS:0033652592
SN - 0894-1130
VL - 13
SP - 276
EP - 288
JO - Journal of Hand Therapy
JF - Journal of Hand Therapy
IS - 4
M1 - 80019
ER -