Hand Sensorimotor Function and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

描述（由申请人提供）：正中神经易受腕部压迫，导致腕管综合征（CTS）。CTS是最常见的压迫性神经病，对国民医疗保健，工人生产力和生活质量产生巨大影响。尽管CTS的患病率和公共卫生成本很高，但我们对CTS的了解有限，CTS的管理有待改进。该项目的中心概念是手感觉运动功能对周围正中神经病变敏感，中枢神经系统受到CTS的影响，导致相关的感觉运动缺陷。我们将调查这一概念与量化的感觉运动数据，从新的生物力学和神经生理学研究。该项目有三个目标，包括生物力学，神经生理学和转化研究。第一个目的是调查CTS引起的病理运动学和病理动力学性能使用灵巧的手动任务的拇指反对，达到捏，精确的抓地力，手指按压。第二个目的是研究慢性周围神经病变的神经生理学意义（即，CTS）对中枢神经系统的影响。第三个目标是使用机器学习和分类算法识别CTS病例的新生物力学和神经生理学标记。该项目的结果将阐明CTS的病理机制和行为表现，并有助于开发诊断，评估，康复和治疗这种疾病的新策略。更一般地说，CTS作为一种慢性神经病，是研究外周和中枢神经系统感觉运动机制的有效模型。此外，在这个项目中开发的方法也适用于其他神经肌肉疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The median nerve is susceptible to compression in the wrist, leading to carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). CTS is the most common compression neuropathy and have an immense impact on national health care, worker productivity, and quality of life. Despite its high prevalence and public health cost, our understanding of CTS is limited, and the management of CTS awaits improvement. The central notion of this project is that hand sensorimotor function is sensitive to peripheral median neuropathy and that the central nervous system is affected by CTS, causing the associated sensorimotor deficit. We will investigate this notion with quantifiable sensorimotor data from novel biomechanical and neurophysiological studies. This project has three aims consisting of biomechanical, neurophysiological and translational research. The first aim is to investigate CTS-induced pathokinematic and pathokinetic performance using dexterous manual tasks of thumb opposition, reach-to-pinch, precision grip, and finger pressing. The second aim is to investigate the neurophysiological implications of chronic peripheral neuropathy (i.e., CTS) on the central nervous system by evaluating corticomuscular coupling and stretch reflex. The third aim is to identify novel biomechanical and neurophysiological markers for CTS cases using machine learning and classification algorithms. The results of this project will elucidate the pathological mechanisms and behavioral manifestations of CTS and aid in the development of new strategies for diagnosis, evaluation, rehabilitation, and treatment of this disorder. More generally, CTS as a chronic neuropathy serves as an effective model to study sensorimotor mechanisms of the peripheral and central nervous systems. In addition, the methodology developed in this project is applicable to other neuromuscular disorders.