Estimation of the Abduction/Adduction Movement of the Metacarpophalangeal Joint of the Thumb

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Paper deals with the complex problem of the grasping function of the hand, emphasizing the functions associated with the thumb.

The authors present an interesting experimental study on the abduction / adduction function of the thumb. A large sensory system is implemented and an experimental technique has been applied to a number of people. The correlation of the muscles that train the thumb with the other fingers of the hand is studied. Experimental techniques and statistical prediction models have been developed. The paper is well written and the theoretical support is appropriate. I agree with the publication in the form presented.

Author Response

Reviewer #1 (Remarks to the Authors):

Paper deals with the complex problem of the grasping function of the hand, emphasizing the functions associated with the thumb.

The authors present an interesting experimental study on the abduction / adduction function of the thumb. A large sensory system is implemented and an experimental technique has been applied to a number of people. The correlation of the muscles that train the thumb with the other fingers of the hand is studied. Experimental techniques and statistical prediction models have been developed. The paper is well written and the theoretical support is appropriate. I agree with the publication in the form presented.

RESPONSE: Many thanks to the reviewer for his/her comments.

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Reviewer 2 Report

The paper starts by reviewing previous works that correlate the movement of the thumb joints. Then, it tries to obtain an equation that estimates the abduction/adduction movement of the thumb metacarpophalangeal joint from the movement of the other joints of the thumb. For that purpose, a sample of 17 healthy-handed subjects were called to perform the commonest grasps in daily living, several times, on different conditions. Movement was captured by a vision-based system (Vicon) that is a reference on the industry. Data was processed mathematically in MATLAB to extract a meaningful prediction model. The predictions of the model were compared against real measurements to assess its accuracy.

The work is valuable, and the proposed model can, in fact, be very useful to infer the angle/position of the thumb easily and accurately. The paper is very “clean” in the sense that there is a problem, the authors develop a solution for it, the solution is tested experimentally, and conclusions are extracted. The experimental procedures are well drawn, and the data is well processed using appropriate statistical tools. The results are robust, and the accuracy is quite good. The article is well organized, the text is well written, symbols and tables are consistent, and figures look good (in general). The overall aspect of the paper is good.

Some minor errors and typos shall be corrected, for example:

- Replace the acronym ADL from the abstract.

- Page 2, line 74: hand dimensions in mm.

- Page 6: Wrong table number.

A final note: it would be interesting to express the estimation errors (4.91 to 5.58 degrees) in relative terms (regrading the full-scale of the joint).

Conclusion:  In my opinion, the paper, as it is, meets the requirements to be published in the MDPI’s Applied Sciences Journal.

Author Response

Reviewer #2 (Remarks to the Authors):

The paper starts by reviewing previous works that correlate the movement of the thumb joints. Then, it tries to obtain an equation that estimates the abduction/adduction movement of the thumb metacarpophalangeal joint from the movement of the other joints of the thumb. For that purpose, a sample of 17 healthy-handed subjects were called to perform the commonest grasps in daily living, several times, on different conditions. Movement was captured by a vision-based system (Vicon) that is a reference on the industry. Data was processed mathematically in MATLAB to extract a meaningful prediction model. The predictions of the model were compared against real measurements to assess its accuracy.

The work is valuable, and the proposed model can, in fact, be very useful to infer the angle/position of the thumb easily and accurately. The paper is very “clean” in the sense that there is a problem, the authors develop a solution for it, the solution is tested experimentally, and conclusions are extracted. The experimental procedures are well drawn, and the data is well processed using appropriate statistical tools. The results are robust, and the accuracy is quite good. The article is well organized, the text is well written, symbols and tables are consistent, and figures look good (in general). The overall aspect of the paper is good.

RESPONSE: Many thanks to the reviewer for his/her comments.

Some minor errors and typos shall be corrected, for example:

- Replace the acronym ADL from the abstract.

- Page 2, line 74: hand dimensions in mm.

- Page 6: Wrong table number.

RESPONSE: All these minor errors have been corrected.

A final note: it would be interesting to express the estimation errors (4.91 to 5.58 degrees) in relative terms (regrading the full-scale of the joint).

RESPONSE: The estimation errors in relative terms have been added in the Results section, as suggested by the reviewer.

Conclusion:  In my opinion, the paper, as it is, meets the requirements to be published in the MDPI’s Applied Sciences Journal.

RESPONSE: We thank the reviewer for his/her comments and suggestions.