Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation

IntroductionTo develop an efficient rehabilitation program for patients with stroke to acquire fine motor skills such as chopstick manipulation, it is necessary to examine the differences in fundamental muscle functions between the hands during motor tasks. The aim of this study was to clarify the d...

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Main Authors: Hina Komi, Hiroshi Kurumadani, Kazuya Kurauchi, Shota Date, Toru Sunagawa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1574002/full
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author Hina Komi
Hiroshi Kurumadani
Kazuya Kurauchi
Shota Date
Toru Sunagawa
author_facet Hina Komi
Hiroshi Kurumadani
Kazuya Kurauchi
Shota Date
Toru Sunagawa
author_sort Hina Komi
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionTo develop an efficient rehabilitation program for patients with stroke to acquire fine motor skills such as chopstick manipulation, it is necessary to examine the differences in fundamental muscle functions between the hands during motor tasks. The aim of this study was to clarify the differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation.MethodsTwenty-eight healthy adults performed the task of picking up different-sized objects using chopsticks with either their dominant or non-dominant hand. Surface electromyography of 11 intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles was performed, and muscle activity and muscle activity waveforms during the task were calculated. Activity patterns and weighting for each pattern were extracted from the muscle activity waveforms using non-negative matrix factorization to represent muscle synergy. The muscle activity and weighting were compared between the dominant and non-dominant hands and among different-sized objects.ResultsThe activities of most intrinsic and extrinsic muscles did not significantly differ between the dominant and non-dominant hands or among different-sized objects. Although activity patterns showed the coordination of intrinsic hand muscles in both the dominant and non-dominant hands, the combinations of the weighting differed between the dominant and non-dominant hands. The non-dominant hand had different muscle activation patterns of intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles compared to the dominant hand. The activity patterns and weighting were mostly similar across different-sized objects.ConclusionThe dominant hand showed coordination of the first and second lumbrical muscles, whereas the non-dominant hand showed no muscle activation patterns between the muscles. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the first and second lumbrical in the non-dominant hand during rehabilitation to improve the coordination between the muscles of the two hands during chopstick manipulation to effectively improve chopstick manipulation skills in the non-dominant hand.
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spelling doaj-art-ae1daeecc27642ecb4f959ac4653a00a2025-08-20T03:17:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612025-04-011910.3389/fnhum.2025.15740021574002Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulationHina KomiHiroshi KurumadaniKazuya KurauchiShota DateToru SunagawaIntroductionTo develop an efficient rehabilitation program for patients with stroke to acquire fine motor skills such as chopstick manipulation, it is necessary to examine the differences in fundamental muscle functions between the hands during motor tasks. The aim of this study was to clarify the differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation.MethodsTwenty-eight healthy adults performed the task of picking up different-sized objects using chopsticks with either their dominant or non-dominant hand. Surface electromyography of 11 intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles was performed, and muscle activity and muscle activity waveforms during the task were calculated. Activity patterns and weighting for each pattern were extracted from the muscle activity waveforms using non-negative matrix factorization to represent muscle synergy. The muscle activity and weighting were compared between the dominant and non-dominant hands and among different-sized objects.ResultsThe activities of most intrinsic and extrinsic muscles did not significantly differ between the dominant and non-dominant hands or among different-sized objects. Although activity patterns showed the coordination of intrinsic hand muscles in both the dominant and non-dominant hands, the combinations of the weighting differed between the dominant and non-dominant hands. The non-dominant hand had different muscle activation patterns of intrinsic and extrinsic hand muscles compared to the dominant hand. The activity patterns and weighting were mostly similar across different-sized objects.ConclusionThe dominant hand showed coordination of the first and second lumbrical muscles, whereas the non-dominant hand showed no muscle activation patterns between the muscles. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the first and second lumbrical in the non-dominant hand during rehabilitation to improve the coordination between the muscles of the two hands during chopstick manipulation to effectively improve chopstick manipulation skills in the non-dominant hand.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1574002/fullintermuscular coordinationmuscle activitychopstick manipulationmuscle synergydominant handnon-dominant hand
spellingShingle Hina Komi
Hiroshi Kurumadani
Kazuya Kurauchi
Shota Date
Toru Sunagawa
Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
intermuscular coordination
muscle activity
chopstick manipulation
muscle synergy
dominant hand
non-dominant hand
title Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
title_full Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
title_fullStr Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
title_full_unstemmed Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
title_short Differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non-dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
title_sort differences in muscle activity and intermuscular coordination between dominant and non dominant hands during chopstick manipulation
topic intermuscular coordination
muscle activity
chopstick manipulation
muscle synergy
dominant hand
non-dominant hand
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1574002/full
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