A novel sensor-based assessment of lower limb spasticity in children with cerebral palsy.
Seoyoung Choi, Yong Beom Shin, Soo-Yeon Kim and 1 others
PMID 29866177WHAT IT FOUND
In children with cerebral palsy, a sensor-based Modified Tardieu assessment gave more consistent knee and ankle spasticity measurements than the conventional clinician-rated method.
It also measured clonus duration, but it did not test treatment outcomes.
Key findings
01The sensor-based system produced more repeatable knee and ankle spasticity measurements than the conventional Modified Tardieu Scale across the tested muscles.
02In healthy subjects, sensor joint angles stayed within 4 degrees of motion capture, but fast-stretch angle error was larger than slow range-of-motion error.
03Clonus duration measured by the sensor differed from EMG by about 0.07 seconds on average.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The accuracy of the sensor angles was tested only in five healthy adults doing voluntary stretches, not in children with cerebral palsy, so skin movement, tone, and deformity could change the result. The system still asks the clinician to decide whether a muscle reaction is present and whether it is clonus, so it is not fully objective. The end of range of motion still depends on the clinician's hand feel, which lowers the reliability of the spasticity angle. The target stretch speed was chosen from each subject's own fast stretches, not from a fixed standard, so comparing different patients is not yet solved. The reliability study was small, with 28 children, and retesting happened within three days, so longer-term stability is unknown. The study did not test ankle dorsiflexors or upper limbs, and bony deformities may create movements the algorithm cannot correct.
Declared interests
No funding or conflict-of-interest statement appears in the supplied article text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this sensor assessment improves spasticity treatment or patient function. It showed better measurement consistency in a validation study, but it did not test whether using it changes therapy outcomes.