This study investigated how a repeated submaximal hand tracking task affects fine motor performance and short-term recovery. Nineteen males traced a 2:3 Lissajous curve using a haptic wrist robot both pre- and post-fatigue. The fatigue protocol was the same task with resistance applied to the handle of the robot at 40% maximal voluntary isometric wrist force. Performance was measured at baseline and at seven intervals during recovery (0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 minutes). The fatigue protocol led to a 12% decrease in grip force and remained below baseline at 10 minutes. Movement quality, quantified by tracking error, figural error, and jerk ratio, increased by 23%, 19%, and 27%, immediately following fatigue but normalised by 4 minutes. This work highlights how submaximal forearm muscle fatigue can temporarily compromise hand tracking ability but suggests that movement accuracy and smoothness recover rapidly with rest.
Cousins et al. (Fri,) studied this question.