Assessment of upper limb use in children with typical development and neurodevelopmental disorders by inertial sensors: a systematic review.
Understanding development of bimanual upper limb (UL) activities in both typical and atypical conditions in children is important for: i) tailoring rehabilitation programs, ii) monitoring progress, iii) determining outcomes and iv) evaluating effectiveness of treatment/rehabilitation. Recent technological advances, such as wearable sensors, offer possibilities to perform standard medical monitoring. Body-worn motion sensors, mainly accelerometers, have shown very promising results but, so far, these studies have mainly focused on adults. The main aim of this review was to report the evidence of UL activity of both typically developing (TD) children and children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) that are reliably reported and comparable, using a combination of multiple wearable inertial sensors, both in laboratory and natural settings. Articles were selected from three research databases (PubMed, Web of Science and EBSCO). Included studies reported data on children aged 0-20 years old simultaneously wearing at least two inertial sensors on upper extremities. The collected and reported data were relevant in order to describe the amount of physical activity performed by the two ULs separately. A total of 21 articles were selected: 11 including TD, and 10 regarding NDDs. For each article, a review of both clinical and technical data was performed. We considered inertial sensors used for following aims: (i) to establish activity intensity cut-points; (ii) to investigate validity and reliability of specified markers, placement and/or number of inertial sensors; (iii) to evaluate duration and intensity of natural UL movements, defined motor tasks and tremor; and (iv) to assess efficacy of certain rehabilitation protocols. Our conclusions were that inertial sensors are able to detect differences in use between both hands and that all reviewed studies support use of accelerometers as an objective outcome measure, appropriate in assessing UL activity in young children with NDDs and determining intervention effectiveness. Further research on responsiveness to interventions and consistency with use in real-world settings is needed. This information could be useful in planning UL rehabilitation strategies.
['Braito|Irene|I|', 'Maselli|Martina|M|', 'Sgandurra|Giuseppina|G|0000-0003-1081-1766', 'Inguaggiato|Emanuela|E|', 'Beani|Elena|E|', 'Cecchi|Francesca|F|', 'Cioni|Giovanni|G|', 'Boyd|Roslyn|R|']
D000293:Adolescent D002648:Child D002675:Child, Preschool D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007223:Infant D007231:Infant, Newborn D008297:Male D009068:Movement D065886:Neurodevelopmental Disorders D015203:Reproducibility of Results D034941:Upper Extremity D000076251:Wearable Electronic Devices D055815:Young Adult
Upper limb Children Typical development Neurodevelopmental disorders Inertial sensor Actigraphs Asymmetry Bimanual activity Hand dominance