AUTHOR=Singam Narayanasarma V., Dwivedi Alok , Espay Alberto J.

TITLE=Writing Orthotic Device for the Management of Writer’s Cramp

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2013.00002

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2013.00002

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Oral therapies and chemodenervation procedures are often unrewarding in the treatment of focal, task-specific hand disorders such as writer’s cramp or primary writing tremor (PWT).</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A portable writing orthotic device (WOD) was evaluated on 15 consecutively recruited writer’s cramp and PWT subjects. We measured overall impairment at baseline and after 2 weeks of at-home use with the Writer’s Cramp Rating Scale (range = 0–8, higher is worse) and writing quality and comfort with a visual analog scale (range = 0–10).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Compared to regular pen, the WOD improved the Writer’s Cramp Rating Scale scores at first-test (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001) and re-test (<italic>p</italic> = 0.005) as well as writing quality and device comfort in writer’s cramp subjects. Benefits were sustained at 2 weeks. PWT subjects demonstrated no improvements.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> WODs exploiting a muscle-substitution strategy may yield immediate benefits in patients with writer’s cramp.</p>