The impact of the intrinsic hand treatment protocol on patients with weakened grip : a case study, 2024

Item — Call Number: MU Thesis Col

Identifier: b7931942

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

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The collection consists of dissertations written by students enrolled in the Monmouth University graduate Occupational Therapy program. The holdings are primarily bound print documents that were submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree.

During the fall 2022 semester (in instances where the requisite waivers were received from consenting student authors), the Monmouth University Library, together with the University's Graduate School and School of Education, began providing open access to select full-text digital versions of current theses and dissertations through links to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global website in the Library's Online Public Access Catalog. Links to these open access digital publications can also be found in the "External Documents" section under any conforming titles that are listed among the holdings itemized in the collection inventory for this finding aid.

Dates

Creation: 2024

Creator

Coleman, Kayla (2000- ) (Author, Person)
Garcia, Andrea (Thesis advisor, Person)
Patro, John (1985- ) (Thesis advisor, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use. Access is by appointment only.

Research appointments are scheduled by the Monmouth University Library Archives Collections Manager (732-923-4526). A minimum of three days advance notice is required to arrange a research appointment for access to the collection.

Access to the collection is confined to the Monmouth University Library and is subject to patron policies approved by the Monmouth University Library.

Patrons must sign a completed Researcher Registration Form and provide appropriate identification to obtain access to the collection. Copies of these documents will be kept on file at the Monmouth University Library.

Extent

1 Items (print book) : 62 pages ; 8.5 x 11.0 inches (28 cm).

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

This doctoral capstone project examines the impact of the use of an intrinsic hand treatment protocol on patients with weakened hand grip and determines if evidence-based research helped guide the creation of this protocol. The co-investigator and primary investigator wanted to shed light on the important information that certified hand therapists (CHTs) and occupational therapists (OT) have in treatment within outpatient hand therapy. CHTs working in outpatient orthopedic facilities have a unique skill set one being to improve grip strength on patients who present with weakened hand strength. Literature shows that intrinsics are an important factor in grip strength, but what does that look like in therapy? Research shows that intrinsic hand muscles are ‘underutilized’ within therapy as therapists provide patients with gross grip exercises that do not isolate and target the intrinsic hand muscles. The co-investigator recruited an occupational therapist with five years of experience who is a certified hand therapist to conduct three semi-structured interviews to strengthen the evidence on the use of an intrinsic hand treatment protocol. The data showed that the use of an intrinsic hand treatment protocol provided the primary case subject’s patients with improvement in strength and function. Through data analysis, themes were presented with a process of how the primary case subject created this per-say protocol.

Keywords: intrinsic hand muscles, weakened hand grip, intrinsic hand theory, extrinsic hand muscles, certified hand therapist, occupational therapy.