Barlow, S.J., Scholtz, J. & Medeiros (2020). Wrist weight-bearing tolerance in healthy adults. Journal of Hand Therapy, xxx currently in press.
The Skinny
Wrist pain and instability are common occurrences and can occur with acute or chronic injuries. This leads to significant dysfunction, including the inability to tolerate axial loading through the upper extremity. There is no reported clinical test for hand therapists to measure axial loading from decreased wrist stability. The purpose of this study was to determine normative values for non weight bearing upper extremity.
In the Weeds
465 subjects were enrolled in the study from around the world. Healthy adults ranging in age from 18 to 64 were enrolled in the study. Exclusion criteria included current wrist pain or a history of wrist pain, previous wrist fracture, rheumatoid arthritis, breastfeeding, and/or pregnancy.
For testing, the subjects were in a standing position with the elbow and wrist in extension. They were asked to press down on an analog scale making sure their middle finger pointed toward the 12 o’clock position. This was done a total of three times on both of the upper extremities.
Bringing it Home
This study defines wrist weight-bearing tolerance norms for healthy adults, including males and females in the age range of 18-64. Knowing the weight-bearing norms could help identify wrist pathology and be another objective measure to support various hand therapy interventions (weight well hand therapy).
This study was well done, and there was a large sample size from various locations around the world. One potential conflict was cited in the article
“journal policy and ethical obligation require reporting that one of the authors of this paper (MW) is the patent owner of a company WristWidget. The business may be positively affected by the results reported in this manuscript.” (Barlow & et al, 2020).
Overall I really enjoyed reading this article, and I can say that it will impact my clinical practice. Nice job!
If you are going to purchase a scale, I would recommend making sure it has a large area to place the hand without covering the dial or numbers (mine doesn’t have enough room to keep my hand on the black area without cover the numbers). Also, make sure it is analog, not digital!
3 Comments
Leave a Comment
More To Read
Top 5 DIP Flexion Exercises
By: Tori Rhodes Lately, we’ve had a handful of patients roll through our clinic with pretty significant limitations to DIP flexion. So, we’ve collected a selection of go-to exercises for these individuals. We’ve included a few of those here. From cat bites and fracture sites to mallet fingers and skin grafts, many individuals who are…
Functional Home Exercises for Patients with Wrist Instability
Functional Home Exercises for Patients with Wrist Instability Ever wondered what brushing your teeth, dressing, making a U-turn, and playing sports have in common? They all rely on a stable wrist. Wrist stability is crucial for everyday activities, supporting wrist proprioception, coordination, motor control, stability, and mobility (Wietlisbach, 2019). For patients recovering from a wrist…
THUMB ABDUCTION IN PATIENTS WITH CMC ARTHRITIS? HOW DO YOU MEASURE?
Article Review THUMB ABDUCTION IN PATIENTS WITH CMC ARTHRITIS? HOW DO YOU MEASURE? Corey McGee PhD, OTR/L, CHT , Virginia O’Brien OTD, OTR/L, CHT , Jennifer Skye MS, OTR/L, CHT , Katherine Wall MOT, OTR/L , Thumb Carpometacarpal Palmar and CMC Radial Abduction in Adults with Thumb Carpometacarpal Joint Pain: Inter-rater Reliability and Precision of…
What? I just received an order for suture removal…
How many of us have practiced suture removal in occupational or physical therapy school?? NOT I!! Often, hand surgeons will ask the therapist to remove sutures and sometimes the order will even say “remove sutures when ready” SO NOW WHAT? How to remove continuous sutures? First, we can cover the basics of sutures! There are…
Sign-up to Get Updates Straight to Your Inbox!
Sign up with us and we will send you regular blog posts on everything hand therapy, notices every time we upload new videos and tutorials, along with handout, protocols, and other useful information.
What are the norms?
What is the result?
Am I wrong …………I could not find the weight bearing norms? You did a nicht Job 🙂 thank you for the Article…