Effect of exercise on microsurgical hand tremor

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of upper-body and aerobic/lower-body-only (nonupper-body) exercise on microsurgical hand tremor. Subjects were given a task of holding a microsurgical needle tip over a small target, with video-microscopic documentation immediately before and 0, 2, 4, 8, and 24 h after either upper-body or nonupper-body (aerobic) exercise. Tremor was quantified by the amount of time the needle was maintained within a 100 x 100-microm target zone and the number of times the needle extruded from the zone. Both upper-body and aerobic-only exercise groups had significant increases in tremor immediately after exercise (P < 0.02), with a return to baseline tremor 2 h after exercise in the aerobic group and only a slightly prolonged return to baseline (by 4 h) in the majority of upper-body exercise subjects. These findings demonstrate that microsurgical hand tremor increases following exercise, but returns to baseline within 4 h in the majority of individuals, particularly after aerobic-only workouts.