Marker-based 3D motion analysis of the fingers – a systematic review

Objectives No standardized marker model currently exists for recording 3D finger movements, limiting comparability across laboratories. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of existing finger and hand models while assessing their suitability for clinical applications. Material and Methods A systematic literature search was conducted in the PubMed and Cochrane databases. In two steps, predefined exclusion criteria were applied to titles, abstracts and full texts. The reproducibility of the studies was systematically assessed and information about methodology, validity and reliability of the models were extracted and discussed. Results The search yielded 2,506 scientific articles, of which 38 were included in the analysis. Amongst these, 14 included the whole hand, while 14 and 10 focused solely on the thumb or the long fingers, respectively. The subjects included were mainly healthy volunteers especially in full hand models, whereas patients with osteoarthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis were also involved. The movements performed ranged from directed motions to functional tasks like grasping. Markers were applied as clusters or individually. The two main kinematic approaches were vector analysis or direct kinematics. Conclusion This review identified four hand kinematic models that achieved maximum reproducibility scores: one full-hand, two thumb, and one long finger model. However, only one of these was tested on patients, highlighting a lack of clinical verification. Additionally, suitable measures for ensuring validity and reliability are frequently missing or incomplete. Therefore, further research is needed to validate existing models and test for reliability under clinical conditions.