Haptic Feedback Manipulation During Botulinum Toxin Injection Therapy for Focal Hand Dystonia Patients: A Possible New Assistive Strategy, By Fariborz Rahimi

Research

Title	Haptic Feedback Manipulation During Botulinum Toxin Injection Therapy for Focal Hand Dystonia Patients: A Possible New Assistive Strategy
Type	Article
Keywords	Haptic Manipulation, Botulinum Toxin, Focal Hand Dystonia
Researchers	Seyed Farokh Atashzar، Mahya Shahbazi، Christopher Ward، Olivia Samotus، Mehdi Delrobaei، Fariborz Rahimi، Jack Lee، Mallory E. Jackman، Mandar Jog، Rajni Patel

Abstract

Abnormality of sensorimotor integration in the basal ganglia and cortex has been reported in the literature for patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia (FHD). In this study, we investigate the effect of manipulation of kinesthetic input in people living with writer's cramp disorder (a major form of FHD). For this purpose, severity of dystonia is studied for 11 participants while the symptoms of seven participants have been tracked during five sessions of assessment and Botulinum toxin injection (BoNT-A) therapy (one of the current suggested therapies for dystonia). BoNT-A therapy is delivered in the first and the third session. The goal is to analyze the effect of haptic manipulation as a potential assistive technique during BoNT-A therapy. The trial includes writing, hovering, and spiral/sinusoidal drawing subtasks. In each session, the subtasks are repeated twice when (a) a participant uses a normal pen, and (b) when the …