Functional, kinematic and neurophysiological assessment
FTT
All participants underwent a functional, kinematic and neurophysiological assessment supervised by an operator blinded to group allocation. Data were collected at baseline (T0), at the training end (T1) and at 1 month after the training end (T2).Functional assessment included the Purdue Pegboard Test (PPT) as primary outcome and the Finger Tapping Test (FTT). The PPT consists of a rectangular board with two lines of holes and four cups containing pegs, collars, and washers. Participants were asked to perform three subtests in which they had to insert pegs in the holes with the right (R), left (L) and both hands simultaneously (B), and one assembly task in which they had to assemble pegs, collars and washers using alternate hand movements. The tasks had to be performed as quickly as possible, and participants had 30 s for R, L and B tasks, whereas 60 s were assigned to accomplish the assembly task. The number of inserted pins represents the score, and higher score indicates better manual dexterity. Three trials were attempted, and the mean score was calculatedKinematic assessment included the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT) and the detection of kinematic indexes during the performanceNeurophysiological assessment included electroencephalographic (EEG) signals recording during the NHPT. A 64-channel continuous EEG system (SD LTM 64 Express, Micromed, Italy) with Ag/AgCl surface electrodes mounted on a cap according to the Standard International 10/20 system was used to acquire brain signals, sampled at 1024 HzCortical activation changes during motor performance were quantified for each electrode in terms of power variation (P