2025 Volume 52 Issue 1 Pages 2-10
[Objective] The study was conducted to “visualize” the techniques of finger pressure and objectivize the techniques of the same kind while focusing on the changes in the pressure-receiving areas over time. The previous studies implemented until last year revealed clearly distinguishable results between qualified practitioners and beginners through quantification and visualization of the pressure-receiving areas. However, due to the small number of subjects, the results of the studies were kept in the realm of hypothesis. In this study, the analysis software was improved, the number of subjects was increased, and the practicality of the device was reexamined for further improvement.
[Methods] Six qualified finger-pressure practitioners and 20 physical therapy students performed finger-pressure techniques using a finger-pressure simulator made based on the body-pressure distribution measurement device, SR Soft Vision, developed by Sumitomo Riko. In addition, using the obtained video data, changes in the pressure-receiving areas over time were measured and analyzed by DIPP-Macro II, particle image measurement and macro processing software created by DITECT.
[Results] The subjects of qualified finger-pressure therapists consisted of four men and two women with an average age of 56.8 (median : 61) years old and an average clinical experience of 26.1 (median : 27.5) years with five right-handed and one left-handed. As for physical therapy students, all of them were male aged 20.9±1.07 years old with 18 right-handed and two left-handed. Regarding the average bilateral difference in (1) total area, (2) average area and (3) maximum area for five-time performance of finger-pressure techniques, qualified finger-pressure practitioners recorded (1) 3,957-12,5891 (72,799.2±48,319.4), (2) 8-209 (132.2±83.7) and (3) 8-337 (195.7±129) (units of the numbers are mm2). Meanwhile, physical therapy students were (1) 10,094-304,341 (74,023.2±68,378.6), (2) 19-544 (140.9±124.6) and (3) 22-828 (195±170.5).
[Discussion] As a result no obvious difference in skill was observed between a finger-pressure practitioners and a physical therapy student. however, some finger-pressure practitioners showed results that may exceed the accuracy of the equipment. this study suggests that the position of the techniques of finger pressure and the physical condition of each subject have a large influence.
