Parkinson Disease vs Aging Features Impairments in Formation and Release of a Power Grip in Real and Pantomimed String-Pulling

Parkinson disease is linked to slower bimanual string-pulling with reduced hand workspace and diminished hand/finger shaping, including absent arpeggio-like finger sequencing during grasp and release.

• Why it matters: Skilled reaching deficits in Parkinson disease are known, but how the disorder affects rhythmic, coordinated bimanual actions—especially during grasp formation and release—remains unclear.
• What they did: Nine participants with Parkinson disease (mean UPDRS-III: 24.6), 16 older adults, and 10 young adults performed real string pulling and then pantomimed it; optical-flow speed, markerless 2D kinematics, and expert frame scoring fed machine-learning classification.
• The result: In the real task, Parkinson disease showed reduced rotary arm/wrist movements and missing sequential finger patterns, while during pantomime it shifted toward faster, larger hand motions with reduced grasp-related opening and finger sequencing.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.