Table 3 Description of protocols and tasks for bimanual assessment

Beani et al. 2020 [23]

Clinical environment

AHA set up

A session of semi-structured playing activity (AHA session)

1 session

Both UL

Cacioppo et al. 2020 [24]

Laboratory

A game set-up (airplane cockpit): 2-handed joystick, turbo, shifter, dashboard, box and buzzer

A five-task protocol, Be An Airplane Pilot 2.0: "flying over mountains", "slaloming", "hooking the luggages", "opening the door", "refueling"

Upright sitting on an adjustable chair with 90°of hip, knee and elbow flexion. The forearm and hand were positioned on the table

1 condition: movement of interest performed by the impaired UL

At a self-selected speed

1 practice trial

5 trials except task 5 (4 trials)

30 min

2 sessions (2–4 weeks)

Impaired UL

Cope et al. 2010 [30]

To place a hat on the head

At a self-selected speed

Pre, post therapy, at 3- and 6-month follow ups (3 uCP)

Impaired UL

Feltham et al. 2010a [31]

Laboratory

2 arm ergometers (871E, Monark Exercise AB, Vansbro,Sweden), each with a handle, attached to the edge of a wooden disc such that it spun freely through 360° around a vertical axis fixed to a wooden table top

An inward, symmetrical circular movement of both upper limbs and maintain this coordination mode throughout the experiment (to rotate the discs continuously)

Sitting on a height-adjustable stool and placed one UL on either side of the divide and angled their head toward the side of their dominant/ less impaired UL, both feet flat on the floor, knees flexed to 90° and elbows flexed to 90°. The ULwere at the inner most part of each of circle

3 conditions according to the divide placed between the arms

At a self-selected speed

Yes (no number)

3/condition

Each trial = 15 s

Both UL

Gaillard et al. 2019 [25]

Laboratory

A game set-up (airplane cockpit) (2-handed joystick, turbo, box and 2 buzzers)

‘‘Be an Airplane Pilot’’ (BE-API protocol)

4 bimanual tasks: ‘‘mountain passing’’, ‘‘slaloming’’, ‘‘dropping parachutists’’, ‘‘refueling’’

Sitting on an adjustable chair with 90° of hip, knee and elbow flexion. The forearm and hand were positioned on the table

1 condition: movement of interest performed by the impaired UL

At a self-selected speed

1 practice trial

4 cycles of movement except task 4 (3 cycles of mvt)

1 h

1 session = 3 trials (1 trial = 4 tasks) (inter trials)

Impaired UL

Gordon et al. 2007 [26]

Laboratory

1) AHA set up

2) The drawer hand a loop handle (9 × 3 cm) and was placed in front of the participant at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table; A 14 × 10 cm push-button light switch

1) AHA testing session (accelerometers) (12 activities performed)

2) a drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of a table with their elbows flexed at right angles with their hands palm down on the edge of the table, 30 cm apart

2 conditions: with each hand opening the drawer

At a self-selected speed

5 trials × 2 (10 trials)

Before, within the first week after and at 1-month post-intervention

Both UL

Howcroft et al. 2012b [32]

Laboratory

Nintendo Wii, “Wii Sport “ and “Dance Dance Revolution “ games,

Wii remote, nunchuck and dance mat

2/4 AVGs: bowling (bilateral) and a dance game (quadrilateral)

Played each game in a randomized order on a preselected beginner level

Familiarize with the games for a maximum of 5 min before playing

Each game for 8 min with a rest period of 5 min between each game

1 session

Both UL

Hung et a., 2004 [33]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 15 cm) with loop handle placed in front of the subject at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table

a push-button light switch

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of a table with their elbows flexed at right angles; hands 30 cm apart and slightly closed with the palm facing down at the edge of the table

4 conditions: * with each hand opening the drawer

*speed (self-paced vs fast-as-possible)

At a self-selected speed and fast-as-possible speed

3 practice trials

5 trials/ condition (total of 20)

1 session

Both UL

Hung et al. 2010 [34]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 9 × 15 cm) placed in front of the subject at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table + an exchangeable handle, either a loop or a knob attached to the front of the drawer + either a ‘‘large’’ (14 × 9 × 10 cm) or a ‘‘small’’ (1.5 × 9 × 2 cm) push-button light switch placed inside the drawer

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of the table with their elbows flexed at right angles and hands positioned 30 cm apart at the edge of the table

8 conditions: two handles (knob, loop), two switches (small, large), each hand

At a fast-as possible speed

3 practice trials

5 trials/condition

1 session

Both UL

Hung et al. 2011 [35]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 15 cm) with a loop handle (9 × 3 cm) was placed at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table

A push-button light switch (14 × 10 cm)

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of the table with their elbows flexed at right angles and hands positioned 30 cm apart at the edge of the table

1 condition: to open the drawer with the less affected hand and to insert the more affected hand in the drawer

At a self-selected speed

Before and after intensive practice (HABIT/CIMT)

Both UL

Hung et Meredith, 2014 [36]

Laboratory

An empty plastic box (weight: 0.6 kg, length: 0.45 m, width: 0.29 m, height: 0.17 m)

A simple box pick-up task (dual task condition): to reach down, grasp, and pick up an empty box to waist height without touching their body

Standing

3 conditions: standing, walking while carrying nothing (baseline condition) and walking while carrying the same empty plastic box with two hands (dual task condition)

At a self-selected speed

3 practice trials

5 trials × 2 conditions

1 session

Both UL

Hung et al. 2017a. [27]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 15 cm) with loop handle placed in front of the subject at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table. A push-button light switch (14 × 10 cm)

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of the table with their elbows flexed at right angles and hands positioned 30 cm apart at the edge of the table

At a self-selected speed

2 practice trials

5 trials

Before and after intensive practice

Both UL

Hung et Spingarn, 2018 [37]

Laboratory

Empty plastic box (length: 45 cm, width: 29 cm, height: 17 cm) one inch in front of their toes to waist height

A simple box pick-up task (dual task condition): to reach down, grasp, and pick up an empty box to waist height without touching their body

Sitting quietly with their feet separated about shoulder width

At a self-selected pace

2 practice trials

5 trials

1 session

Both UL

Hung et al. 2018 [38]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 15 cm) with loop handle placed in front of the subject at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table. A push-button light switch (14 × 10 cm)

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of the table with their elbows flexed at right angles and hands positioned 30 cm apart at the edge of the table

At a self-selected speed

2 practice trials

5 trials

Before, immediately after and 6 months after training

Both UL

Hung et al. 2019 [28]

Laboratory

The drawer (15 × 15 cm) with loop handle placed in front of the subject at midline 30 cm from the edge of the table. A push-button light switch (14 × 10 cm)

A drawer-opening task*

Sitting 15 cm in front of the table with their elbows flexed at right angles and hands positioned 30 cm apart at the edge of the table

At a self-selected speed

2 practice trials

5 trials

1 session

Both UL

Hung et Zeng, 2020. [39]

Laboratory

Two sizes of the tray handle (small: 2.54 cm; large: 3.81 cm) and the water bottle (80 ml, 3.5 × 11 cm)

To lift a tray with a water bottle on top: participants reached forward, grasped, and lifted the tray up with both hands at about 8 cm from the table top leveled and then counted from 1 to 5 before they put it down

Sitting 15 cm in front of a table with elbows flexed at right angle, and hands slightly closed located at the edge of the table. The tray was positioned in the middle of the table

4 conditions: 2 handle size and cap condition (with/without)

At a self-selected speed

2 practice trials

5 trials

1 session

Both UL

Johansson et al. 2012 [40]

Laboratory

Test platform with 10 integrated easy to press light-switches

To begin from a starting point, pressing three light-switch buttons in a sequential order (both ULs simultaneously)

Sitting in a chair in front of the

custom-made test platform

4 directions (extension, flexion, adduction, abduction)

2 practice trials/ condition

3 usable trials/ direction (12)

3 sessions (pre, post and at 6 months post training)

Both UL

Johansson et al. 2014 [41]

Laboratory

Test platform with 10 integrated light-switches

To begin from a starting point, pressing three light-switch buttons in a sequential order (both ULs simultaneously)

4 directions (extension, flexion, adduction, abduction)

12 trials

3 sessions (pre, post and at 6 months post training)

Both UL

Klotz et al. 2014 [42]

Laboratory

(1) Two cups

(2) A paperboard box

(1) Decanting cups: to hold two cups, one in each hand and to decant the cereals into the empty cup

(2) Moving a box on a desk: this box had to be pulled towards, turned 180° around and then thrown/shoved over the table-edge

Sitting on a chair

with adjustable sitting position. In front of the person a paperboard box was placed

At a self-selected speed

Decanting cups × 6 trials (× 3 for each body side)

Moving a box on a desk: × 3 trials

1 session

Impaired UL

Mutalib et al. 2019a. [43]

Laboratory

Bespoke instrumented cube (10 × 10 × 10 cm; weight = 530 g)

Single-object bimanual lifting task: to grasp the cube with both hands, move it vertically for approximately 8–10 cm, hold for 1–2 s, and then return back to the start position (lift-static-deposit)

Sitting on a chair with adjustable sitting position, in front of a table where the cube was placed

At a self-selected speed

The first 5 trials

15 trials with a 10-s interval between trials

1 session

Both UL

Rudisch, et al. 2016 [29]

Laboratory

The box was positioned at a distance of 25 cm from the edge of the table and adhered to the table

A box-opening task: to open a box with their affected- or less-affected hand and pressing a button inside with the opposite hand

Sitting on a height adjustable chair with both feet touching the floor (or footplate), in front of a height adjustable table, with elbows flexed at a 90° angle with hands resting on the table surface

2 conditions: the affected hand or less affected handopening the box

At a self-paced,

comfortable speed

10 times; 5 x / condition;

5 min for set up + 5 min to administer the task

1 session

Both UL

Shum et al. 2020 [48]

Laboratory 2 × 2 m physical “play-space”

The Oculus Rift system (Oculus VR, LLC, Menlo Park, CA, USA), the Oculus Touch controller pair, and two Oculus Sensors; within a 3D virtual environment developed in Unity 3D 5.0 2017 (Unity Technologies, San Francisco, USA)

A reaching task: to pick up and move the virtual objects to a specified location with both hands simultaneously. Items of food preparation (hotdog onto a bun, meat into a dumpling, rice onto nori, and shrimp into a sushi roll)

Sitting on a chair, Oculus Sensors and Kinect v2 placed 1.5 m from the play-space origin to maximize the field of view

2 conditions; with or without visual error augmentation

The objects were randomly varied at every 5th, 7th, and 8th trial to mitigate boredom

At least 3 practice trials

One set = baseline + training trials (60 training + 5 evaluation trials) + wash out (15 trials)

1 session, 2 sets

Impaired UL

Smorenburg et al. 2011 [44]

Laboratory

A glass, opaque screen or mirror divide, between the arms along the midsagittal plane. Handle was attached to a wooden disc which spun freely 360° around a vertical axis. The axes fixed to a wooden plateau and located 0.31 m apart

A bimanual symmetrical circular movement: to perform a continuous inward symmetrical circular bimanual movement (the right UL rotated CCW and the left UL rotated CW). Children were asked to rotate the discs continuously to keep the movement time per cycle

Sitting on a height adjustable chair at a height adjustable table with the knees flexed to 90°

-3 visual feedback: (1) the participant viewed both ULs, (2) only one arm and (3) one UL and its mirror reflection -2 head orientation conditions: looking from the impaired and from the less-impaired body side

At a self-selected speed

3 trials/ condition

Each trial = 15 s

1 session

Both UL

Smorenburg et al. 2012a [45]

Laboratory

A custom-made wooden construction consisting of two handles on two separate parallel tracks 20 cm apart. direction Handles could be moved anterior–posterior

A bimanual matching task: to match the position of a target with both arms at the same time i.e., to move both hands towards the target as symmetrically as possible starting with the handles at the beginning of the track, i.e., 0% MRD

Sitting on a height adjustable chair at a height adjustable table with the knees flexed to 90°

2 conditions

-4 target positions: 25%, 50%, 65%, or 80% of the MRD (less-impaired hand side) -2 visual conditions: opaque screen and mirror

1 practice trial

2 trials per condition (16 trials in total)

1 session

Both UL

Smorenburg et al. 2013 [46]

Laboratory

A custom-made wooden box with two handles in a slit, one at each side of an opaque divide, running parallel in the sagittal and horizontal plane. The handles were located 20 cm apart and the maximum anterior–posterior range was 56 cm. The handles inside the box were attached to two handles outside the box on which light emitting diodes were attached

A bimanual matching task: to move the two handles to the target with the impaired and the less-impaired arm simultaneously and in a symmetrical fashion

Sitting on a height adjustable chair behind a height adjustable table with the knees flexed to 90°

1 condition:

*Target located at 20%, 40%, 60%, 70%, and 80% MRD

2 trials per target position (10 trials)

3 sessions: pre, post (immediately), and after a 1-week-retention

Both UL

Sugden et Utley, 1995 [49]

Laboratory

Small half-spheres (1) and cubes (2,3)

(1) to reach for and touch two targets placed directly in front of them. (2) reached for and grasped cubes placed directly in front of them. (3) a double movement: the child had to reach to touch a marked box 45" to hislher side and then reach for and grasp the cube

(1) sitting on his/her usual chair at table, feet on the ground or a fixed surface. (2) (3): sitting on trip trap, hands placed in a standardised starting position

1 condition: both hands moving simultaneously

At a self-selected speed

3 practice

trials

3 trials

1 session

Both UL

Utley et Sugden,1998. [50]

Laboratory

The target object: a small piece of card or wooden cube. The cube size (3, 4, 5 cm) and distance travelled (20, 25, 30 cm) according to the size of the child

3 reaching tasks: (1) reach and touch, (2) reach and grasp, (3) reach, touch, and grasp

Sitting at an adjustable desk in a Tripp Trapp, feets in contact with the ground or the footplate on the chair

1 condition: both hands moving simultaneously

3 practice trials

3 trials

20–30 min

1 session

Both UL

Utley et al. 2004 [51]

Laboratory

2 wooden cubes (small and large). The cubes were placed 20, 25 or 30 cm away from the subject in the sagittal direction, according to the size of the child

To reach and grasp bimanually to a small cube (1.5 cm) and a large cube (6 cm)

Sitting at an adjustable desk and chair

*small and large cube *order of unimanual and cube's size alternatively chosen

At a self-selected speed

3 practice trials

3 trials bimanually

20–30 min

1 session

Both UL

Utley et al. 2007 [52]

Laboratory

The cube size (3, 4, 5 cm) and distance traveled (20, 25, 30 cm) were varied according to the size of the child

To pick up (reach and grasp) a cube bimanually when the surface it was placed on was either sloping away from the child (Experiment 1) or towards the child (Experiment 2)

Sitting at an adjustable desk in a Tripp Trapp, feets in contact with the ground or the footplate on the chair

2 conditions: the surface the cube was placed on was either sloping away from the child or towards the child

3 practice trials

3 trials /condition

1 session

Both UL

Van Thiel et al. 2001 [53]

Laboratory

Hitting task (H): a rod (21 cm; diam 2,5 cm) in each hand; attached to the tip of rod was the pod of a badminton shuttle cock to enable firm but safe impacts with the screen H: targets on a screen, diameter 2 cm (small) and 5 cm (large);

Reaching task (R): buttons of 3 and 5 cm in diameter

Grasping task (G): blocks width of 3 and 5 cm

H: to hit target with both hands; with the tip of the rod quickly, immediately after the target appearance

R: to push a button

G: grasp and lift small blocks / to hit the target

Sitting at a table and resting her/his hand on start boxes

2 conditions:

target sizes (small/large)

As quickly as possible

12 trials / condition (= 24 per task)

1 session

Both UL

Volman et al. 2020 [47]

Laboratory

A template with two circles (diameter: 9 cm; distance between the circle centres: 23 cm) was placed on the digitizer under a transparent overlay

To hold the pen––as far as possible––with a power grip of all fingers and to do bimanual (asymmetric and symmetric) circle drawing movements (15 circles)

Sitting at a table in a Tripp Trapp chair

4 conditions: (1) symmetric bimanual inward (left CW and right CCW); (2) symmetric bimanual outward (left CCW and right CW); (3) asymmetric bimanual CW (both hands CW); (4) asymmetric bimanual CCW (both hands CCW)

At a self-selected speed, instructed to move, as smooth as possible, and not to stop moving

3 practice trials

3 trials/ condition (totally: 12)

30 min

1 session

Both UL