Quantifying nuanced differences in hand dexterity between the dominant and nondominant hands of healthy, right-handed, young adults

Authors

• Brian J. Conway, Medical College of WisconsinFollow
• Léon Taquet, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Timothy F. Boerger, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Kaitlin Goetschel, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Kate B. Krucoff, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Sergey Tarima, University of KentuckyFollow
• Brian D. Schmit, Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
• Max O. Krucoff, Medical College of Wisconsin

Abstract

When individuals present with hand injuries, clinicians often use the contralateral hand as an internal control. However, subtle differences in baseline dexterous abilities between the dominant and nondominant hands are poorly understood. To address this gap, here we quantified such differences, measured as independence (individuation) and smoothness of finger movements. A cohort of 47 right-hand-dominant healthy adults (22 males and 25 females) moved each finger independently 10 times, while joint angle data were tracked with a dataglove (CyberGlove III, CyberGlove Systems, San Jose, CA). Each finger’s performance was compared with its counterpart on the opposite hand using Wilcoxon-signed rank tests. The right hand scored significantly higher than the left on both direct comparison and linear mixed-effect modeling for thumb individuation (P < 0.0001) and smoothness (P < 0.0001), index finger individuation (P = 0.012), and middle finger individuation (P = 0.009). Differences between the hands for index and middle finger individuation scores changed depending on the individuation scoring method used. Sex-based comparisons revealed females had greater asymmetry of thumb (P = 0.044) and ring finger (P = 0.020) individuation scores, as well as ring finger smoothness (P = 0.036) compared with males on both direct comparison and multiple linear regression. Cluster and principal components analysis were performed to detect whole hand differences. Dominant and nondominant hands were separated using smoothness metrics at a 74.5% sensitivity, 66% specificity, 68.6% positive predictive value, and 72.1% negative predictive value. In sum, this represents the largest study to date quantifying naturally occurring differences in hand dexterity between dominant and nondominant hands in healthy, right-handed young adults.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2025

Notes/Citation Information

Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2025 The Authors.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1152/japplphysiol.00123.2025

Archival?

Archival

Repository Citation

Conway, Brian J.; Taquet, Léon; Boerger, Timothy F.; Goetschel, Kaitlin; Krucoff, Kate B.; Tarima, Sergey; Schmit, Brian D.; and Krucoff, Max O., "Quantifying nuanced differences in hand dexterity between the dominant and nondominant hands of healthy, right-handed, young adults" (2025). Biostatistics Faculty Publications. 101.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biostatistics_facpub/101