Date of Award

5-2023

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering

Department

Biomedical Engineering

First Advisor

Russo, Stephanie

Second Advisor

Davis, Brian

Third Advisor

Uz, Metin

Abstract

Brachial plexus birth injuries (BPBI) occur in about 0.4 to 4.6 of every 1000 live births due to stretching or tearing of the nerves. Children with BPBI often struggle to perform daily living activities without assistance, including feeding themselves. Upper extremity function is commonly assessed in children with BPBI using the modified Mallet classification, a set of positions representing activities of daily living that are scored according to ability. The hand to mouth position is a Mallet position and is often used to represent feeding tasks in the BPBI population. Establishing this normative data will provide a baseline for comparison to pathologic populations such as children with BPBI.

Twenty-five children ages 6-18 years (average 11.8 years) with no current upper extremity injuries were recruited to perform different feeding tasks with three-dimensional motion capture. Previously collected BPBI data was used to compare the hand to mouth Mallet position in both groups. Differences between dominant and nondominant limbs within the control group were observed to determine (1) if differences between dominant and nondominant limbs should be anticipated as comparison between a patient’s affected and unaffected limbs is commonly utilized and (2) if either limb could potentially be used as a control. Differences between the Mallet classification hand to mouth position and other feeding task positions were observed. The previous BPBI data was used to compare to the control group to observe differences in the affected limbs, unaffected limbs, and control group limbs.

The results of this study identified minimal differences between dominant and nondominant limbs, which supports the use of either limb as a control limb. The results also show that the hand to mouth position differs drastically from eating with a spoon, and most closely represents eating a small food item. Overall, the results of this study show that (1) joint angles between dominant and nondominant limbs are not significantly different, (2) the hand to mouth position cannot accurately represent all of the feeding task positions and (3) the unaffected limb of BPBI patients could potentially be used as a control limb.

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