Physicians versus surgeons. A pilot study on hand dexterity within a controlled population

Hand dexterity is defined as the innate or acquired capacity of performing any given procedure with one's hands. This study seeks the role of regular hand training on hand dexterity over time. Materials and Methods : Pilot study composed by two independent groups with 28 subjects each (surgeons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Acta orthopaedica belgica Vol. 82; no. 3; pp. 456 - 461
Main Authors:	Figueiredo, S, Machado, L, Lousada, A D P, Castelo, L S, Fardilha, M L, Sa, A
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Belgium 01-09-2016
Subjects:	Adult Age Factors Female Hand - physiology Humans Male Middle Aged Motor Skills - physiology Physicians Pilot Projects Sex Factors Surgeons
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Hand dexterity is defined as the innate or acquired capacity of performing any given procedure with one's hands. This study seeks the role of regular hand training on hand dexterity over time. Materials and Methods : Pilot study composed by two independent groups with 28 subjects each (surgeons and physicians), stratified according to gender and age. Measurement of hand dexterity using Lafayette's Purdue Pegboard through the sum of the first three exercises as well as the assembly exercise. No difference was found between groups in regards of gender, age, time of practice and hand size (p = 0.415 ; p = 0.225 ; p = 0.267 ; p = 0.937). Statistical significance was assumed when p < 0.050. Surgeons performed better but a statistically significant difference was not observed both on the -assembly score (p = 0.560) and three tests sum score (p = 0.244). The decay of dexterity over time happened in a homogeneous fashion in the surgeons' arm (p < 0.001 and p = 0.043) but not in the physicians' arm (p = 0.157 and p = 0.098). Surgeons seem to perform better than physicians in regards of hand dexterity, although no definitive conclusion was possible given our small sample. It is well known that aging worsens hand -dexterity, but our study suggests it happens much more homogeneously within surgeons.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0001-6462