An Approach to the Objective Measurement of Spasticity

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Abstract
Evaluation of the effects of treatment of patients with spasticity is complicated by reliance upon subjective estimates of the response of their muscles to passive stretch. An electronic system has been devised to record objective measurements of spasticity; the device moves the subject’s limb in a programed manner and records the resistance to the movement. During the movement, limb position, limb velocity, forces required to move the limb, and EMG data are recorded on a strip chart recorder and an XY recorder. Hysteresis loops reveal characteristic patterns for flexor and extensor resistance and for mixed flexorextensor syndromes. Studies are described of the range of variation encountered on repeated measurements in ten normal subjects and nine patients with hemiplegia.

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