Quantifying hand movement limitations in scleroderma during functional tasks using the movement deviation profile

Disease-induced impaired hand function leads reduced quality of life and is frequently assessed by physicians in routine care of scleroderma patients. Hand movements are complex and current clinical assessments are subjective or inaccurate. A mixed cohort of scleroderma patients and healthy controls performed two functional tasks. Additionally, the finger-to-palm index was taken. Joint angles of the sagittal plane for all finger joints, and frontal plane of the metacarpal-phalangeal joints, were analysed using the movement deviation profile (MDP). MDP results were correlated to relevant clinical measures. Scleroderma patients significantly deviate from normality during functional tasks. Significant correlations between movement deviation and clinical measures were identified, but no clinical measure correlated to deviation of both functional tasks, suggesting that one clinical measure is insufficient to assess hand impairments in scleroderma patients.