Sensory assessment of normal adolescents between 11 and 18 years old

• Main Authors: Nara Suemi Shishido, Cristina Yoshie Toyoda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de São Carlos 2013-04-01
• Series: Cadernos de Terapia Ocupacional
• Subjects: Adolescence; Sensibility; Occupational Therapy
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.4322%2Fcto.v21i1.730
• ISSN: 0104-4931; 2238-2860

Tactile sensibility allows for adequate neuropsychomotor development. In addition, it enables the understanding of the subject’s own body, actions and explorations of objects, people and the environment. Previous studies have evaluated 3 to 10 year-old children. Herein, we evaluate the tactile sensibility in adolescents. The aim of this study was to verify whether the rapid growth of the body changes the normal pattern of tactile sensibility in adolescents. Furthermore, we provide evaluation material that is easy to use, simple, and secure to handle, designed to attend the specific age range studied. Thirty-two young participants between 11 and 18 years old, sixteen males and sixteen females, were evaluated. The adolescents go to public school and present normal development patterns. Graphesthesia, stereognosia, and Semmes-Weinstein monofilament tests were performed to evaluate the sensibility on the ventral and dorsal sides of the right and left hands. A questionnaire was used to identify the relevant activities performed with the hands during the studied period. The adolescents tested were collaborative during the research and presented curiosity regarding the boxes used in the experiment. Results indicated alterations in the tactile sensibility on the dorsal side of the hands from 13-year- old males. The major activities indicated by the adolescents were writing and sports for males and writing and cleaning for females. First evidences of possible changes in the normal tactile sensibility during adolescence were observed in this study.