Measurement system of finger-tapping contact force for quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measuring system of contact force in finger-tapping of Parkinson's disease patients and to show its effectiveness for quantitative diagnosis. This system was composed of a pair of 3-axis accelerometers, a touch sensor an analog to digital converter and a personal computer (PC). Firstly, a transfer function representing relation between the contact force and the accelerometer output during the finger contact phase of finger-tapping was determined.