Abstract
The Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments (SWMs) are used by medical staff for testing and measuring of the threshold of tactile sensory perception. The purpose of this study is to measure operator hand motion during the SWMs test. The ten subjects (6 men and 4 women), ranging in age from 20 to 60 years (mean age 42 years) were recruited. The SWM of the 5.07/10 g filament was selected in this study. In this experiment, we measured their hand motion by a motion capture system and the buckling force of the SWMs by a force sensor. These results showed that the maximum velocity of the subject hand was 0.33 mm/s, and the minimum velocity was 0.15 mm/s. Furthermore, the maximum buckling force was 8.5 g, and the minimum bucking force was 6.8 g. Thus, the hand motion during the SWMs test has varied through each medical staff. In conclusions, the SWMs test is useful way of the tactile threshold measuring in a clinic, but it depends on hand motion of the medical staff.
