Real-Time Feedback Results in Greater Outer, Far-From-Body and Inner, Close-to-Body Upper Extremity Reachable Workspace in Healthy Adults

Upper extremity reachable workspace is the quantitative measure of an individual’s ability to reach locations in space with their hand. Reachable workspace comprises of both far-from-body motions and close-to-body motions, and it dependent on functional shoulder, elbow, and wrist movement. Reachable workspace has been used to evaluate upper extremity function in various clinical populations, but traditional measurement of workspace involves verbal instructions with little visual feedback that may not elicit a true measure of an individual’s reachable workspace. A newer approach to measure upper extremity reachable workspace is to provide real-time visual feedback to prompt greater participant effort. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of real-time visual feedback with motion capture on upper extremity reachable workspace in healthy adults. It was hypothesized that real-time feedback would result in significantly greater amounts outer, far-from-body and inner, close-to-body reachable workspace compared to workspace collection with traditional verbal and basic visual instructions. 19 healthy adults (ages 19 to 25 years old) participated in this study. Motion capture was used to record upper extremity orientation during a trial with verbal instruction and a trial with real-time feedback. Measurements of outer and inner workspace between verbal and real-time trails were compared using paired t-tests (α=0.05) with Bonferroni corrections. Real-time visual feedback elicited significantly greater measures of workspace for all outer, far-from-body regions and most inner, close-to-body regions. This study provides evidence that real-time feedback should be used in clinical settings to elicit the most accurate measure of upper extremity workspace.