A Novel Developed Nine-Hole Pegboard to Assess Peg Travel and Reach Times

抄録

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a personal computer (PC)-coupled nine-hole peg test (NHPT) incorporating an engineering device that could accurately measure the travel time of individual pegs and use it to provide standard data in healthy young women for future reference.

Methods: We produced a nine-hole pegboard consisting of a container with an accelerometer, a small photo reflector, and an amplifier. Four temporal variables were calculated using software developed by the researcher. NHPTs were performed by 37 healthy right-handed young women with dominant and non-dominant hands. The hand used, the distance from the container to the peg hole (index of difficulty; ID), task (container to the board and board to the container), and phase (peg movement time, reaching time) were used as independent variables.

Results: The developed pegboard was found to accurately measure the time in each of the assumed phases. The total performance time with the dominant hand was significantly shorter than that of the non-dominant hand (P < 0.001). Time to move the peg from the container to the board accounted for approximately 54% of the total performance time for both the left and right hands. The peg movement time increased performance time as the task difficulty increased (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Our pegboard accurately measures movement times with individual pegs and the time to reach pegs without stopwatch assessments in young women. Baseline data on the right- and left-hand peg travel times and reach times for healthy young women were provided for future reference.