Grasp Analysis in the Home Environment as a Measure of Hand Function After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Background: Following a spinal cord injury, regaining hand function is a top priority. Current hand assessments are conducted in clinics, which may not fully represent real-world hand function. Grasp strategies used in the home environment are an important consideration when examining the impact of rehabilitation interventions. Objective: The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between grasp use at home and clinical scores. Method: We used a previously collected dataset in which 21 individuals with spinal cord injuries (SCI) recorded egocentric video while performing activities of daily living in their homes. We manually annotated 4432 hand-object interactions into power, precision, intermediate, and non-prehensile grasps. We examined the distributions of grasp types used and their relationships with clinical assessments. Results: Moderate to strong correlations were obtained between reliance on power grasp and the Spinal Cord Independence Measure III (SCIM; P