Contribution of the Cerebellum to the Coupling of Grip Force and Pull Force During an Isometric Precision Grip Task

This study addresses the influence of the cerebellum on the performance of an isometric precision grip task. For the task, in which the process of "picking a raspberry" is simulated, grip force and pull force had to be increased linearly for a duration of 1-5 s (pull phase) to accomplish the task skillfully. The performance of 11 patients suffering from degenerative cerebellar disease was analyzed and compared with the performance of 11 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Patients with cerebellar disease showed systematic deviations of the pull force slope from a linear trend, dividing the pull phase into two intervals. After an initial sharp and brief increase of pull force (first interval), patients maintained the achieved pull force level almost constant without further increase (second interval). Although controls showed changes in the pull force slope also, they increased pull force during the whole pull phase. Coupling of grip force and pull force was analyzed using stochastic frontier analysis. This technique allows covariation of grip force and the resulting pull force to be analyzed depending on the variation of the grip force. In the patients, grip force and pull force were coupled efficiently only in the first interval. During the second interval, grip force was often exaggerated compared with pull force. In conclusion, patients with cerebellar diseases have difficulties in producing smooth isometric movements and in coupling grip force and pull force efficiently.