App Based Dexterity Training in Multiple Sclerosis

NCT03369470 | Completed DMC

• 1 other identifier: 2017-00768
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 50
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system and the most common cause of non-traumatic disability in young adults (Kamm et al. 2014; Vanbellingen \& Kamm, 2016). It is a heterogeneous disease, which is associated with long-term disability, leading to reduced quality of life (QoL). Disease-modifying pharmacological therapies (DMT) decrease activity and progression of the disease, and symptomatic pharmacological treatments reduce complaints to a certain extent, however MS patients often still suffer from various neurological deficits during the course of their disease (Kamm et al. 2014). Consequently, specific non-pharmacological therapies are needed in order to further reduce disability, eventually resulting in better QoL (Lamers et al. 2016; Vanbellingen \& Kamm, 2016). Impaired dexterity is a frequently observed impairment, affecting up to 76% of patients with MS (Johannson et al. 2007). The different neurological deficits caused by MS, such as ataxia, spasticity, sensory-motor deficits, and apraxia may be alone or in combination, impair manual dexterity (Kamm et al. 2012; Heldner, Vanbellingen et al. 2014). MS patients experience impairments in the performance of several activities of daily living (ADL), such as grooming, cooking, etc. Sometimes these problems are even associated with loss of work, and lack of social integration (Chruzander et al. 2013). The effectiveness of the app based exercises still needs to be proven. With respect to dexterity, a first new app has been developed called "Finger Zirkus", by a team of experts including an occupational therapist, graphic designer, and IT expert. The app is already available to be downloaded from google play store or apple store (see for more details: www.fingers-in-motion.de).

Conditions

Multiple Sclerosis

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• AMSQ, Arm Function in Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire (AMSQ)

  AMSQ is a patient recorded outcome measurement for manual dexterity in MS patients (Mokkink et al. 2015). The "Arm Function in Multiple Sclerosis Questionnaire" (AMSQ) measures manual dexterity in patients with MS. It contains 31 questions on a unidimensional scale that are formulated as 'during the past two weeks, to what extent has MS limited your ability to ......?'. Response categories are from one to six ('not at all', 'a little', 'moderately', 'quite a lot', 'extremely', and 'no longer able to'). One final sum score is obtained with higher scores indicating more dexterous difficulties.The Dutch version showed good validity, test-retest reliability (ICC 0.90; SEM 5.6) and inter-observer reliability (ICC 0.95; SEM 7.2)

  4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Nine Hole Peg Test (9HPT)

  4 weeks

• Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale 29 (MSIS 29)

  4 weeks

• Coin Rotation Task (Kamm et al. 2012)

  4 weeks

Study Arms (2)

App Dexterity

EXPERIMENTAL

Behavioral: App Dexterity

Theraband

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Behavioral: Theraband

Interventions

App Dexterity BEHAVIORAL

App based dexterity training by means of Finger Zirkus (see for more details: www.fingers-in-motion.de)

App Dexterity

Theraband BEHAVIORAL

Active control being five traditional hand strengthening (Thera-band) exercises, which we published in our previous RCT, being feasible and effective in improving dexterity (for more details see for Kamm et al. 2015).

Theraband

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 75 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Luzerner Kantonsspital: lead
• Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Luzerner Kantonsspital

Lucerne, 6000, Switzerland

Location

Related Publications (1)

• van Beek JJW, Lehnick D, Pastore-Wapp M, Wapp S, Kamm CP, Nef T, Vanbellingen T. Tablet app-based dexterity training in multiple sclerosis (TAD-MS): a randomized controlled trial. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2024 Apr;19(3):889-899. doi: 10.1080/17483107.2022.2131915. Epub 2022 Oct 29.

  PMID: 36308305 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Multiple Sclerosis

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Demyelinating Autoimmune Diseases, CNS; Autoimmune Diseases of the Nervous System; Nervous System Diseases; Demyelinating Diseases; Autoimmune Diseases; Immune System Diseases

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Head of department

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 6, 2017
• First Posted: December 12, 2017
• Study Start: December 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: August 1, 2021
• Study Completion: August 30, 2021
• Last Updated: September 1, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-08

Locations

CH (1)