Uma ferramenta automática de apoio à avaliação funcional da mão em pacientes com artrite reumatóide

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic and progressive inflammatory disease involving mainly wrists and hands. It is generally symmetrical, and leads, if untreated, to joint deformities and limited range of motion. The objective of this study was to validate leap motion as a tool for the functional evaluation of the range of motion of the wrist, proximal metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints in patients with RA. In addition to validating a tool, a prototype was developed to evaluate the range of motion by the leap motion device. A total of 18 patients (36 hands and 198 joints) were included in the study: 4 (22.2%) were male and 14 (77.8%) were female. All diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. The leap motion was able to detect the ROM of all joints studied in all patients, except in one patient who presented a high degree of deformity in flexion of the wrist. In addition, the convergent validity was found through Pearson's correlation (ranging from 0.5 to 0.7) between the mean scores of the range of motion measured by the leap motion and the conventional goniometer. It is concluded that for the daily routine of the physician and physiotherapist the use of leap motion in the evaluation of patients with RA can be na alternative tool to measure the ROM of the joints of the hands and wrists. Furthermore, although studies with other osteoarticular diseases of the hands and wrists need to be performed, leap motion may also be a useful propaedeutic method for evaluating the ROM of this group of patients.