title: The CAM test: a novel tool to quantify the decline in vertical upper limb pointing movements with ageing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although upper limb movements in the vertical plane are very commonly used during the activities of daily life, there is still a lack of a reliable and easy standardized procedure to quantify them. In particular, ageing is associated with a decline in performances of coordinated movements, but a tool to quantify this decline is missing.
  
  
  METHODS
  We created a novel portable test called counting arm movement test (CAM test). Participants were asked to perform fast and accurate successive pointing movements towards two fixed targets (mechanical counters) located in a vertical plane in the parasagittal axis during three different time periods (15, 30, 45 s). Each upper limb was assessed separately. The test was evaluated in a group of 63 healthy subjects (mean age ± SD 49.1 ± 19.8 years; F/M 33/30; range 18-87 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Motor performances (number of clicks) significantly decreased as a function of age for both the dominant side (age effect; linear regression; p < 0.0001 for 15, 30 and 45 s) and the non-dominant side (linear regression; p < 0.0001 for 15, 30 and 45 s). Performances on the dominant and non-dominant side were linearly correlated with the time periods (p < 0.0001 on both sides). The symmetry index (ratio of performance on the dominant side divided by performance on the non-dominant side) was correlated linearly and positively with the duration of the test (y = 0.002x + 1.053; p = 0.0056). We also found a linear relationship between upper limb length and motor performance on the non-dominant side for 15 s (p = 0.023) and 45 s (p = 0.041). The test was characterized by a very high correlation between the results obtained by two investigators during two successive sessions in a subgroup of 7 subjects (Pearson product moment correlation: 0.989 for the dominant side and 0.988 for the non-dominant side).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The CAM test appears as a robust and low cost tool to quantify upper limb pointing movements. In particular, the test strongly discriminates the effects of age upon motor performances in upper limbs. Future studies are now required to establish the sensitivity, specificity and reliability of this procedure in selected neuromuscular or skeletal diseases affecting the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Etude du Mouvement, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, ULB-Erasme, 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium.|HELB Ilya Prigogine, Campus Erasme, Route de Lennik, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ansay
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Etude du Mouvement, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, ULB-Erasme, 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium. mmanto@ulb.ac.be.|HELB Ilya Prigogine, Campus Erasme, Route de Lennik, Brussels, Belgium. mmanto@ulb.ac.be.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manto
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Etude du Mouvement, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, ULB-Erasme, 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium.|HELB Ilya Prigogine, Collège d'ergothérapie de Bruxelles(CEbxl), Campus Erasme, Route de Lennik, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Camut
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Experimental Neurolinguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: van Dun
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Experimental Neurolinguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.|ZNA Middelheim General Hospital, Lindendreef 1, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mariën
authors.affiliation: CHNO, Hôpital des Quinze Vingts, Rue de Charenton, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Habas
authors.affiliation: Unité d'Etude du Mouvement, Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, ULB-Erasme, 808 Route de Lennik, 1070, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bodranghien
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001132:Arm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018953:Kinesiology, Applied / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Counter; Gravity; Movements; Pointing; Timing