Skeletal muscle mechanics, energetics and plasticity.
Richard L Lieber, Thomas J Roberts, Silvia S Blemker and 2 others
PMID 29058612WHAT IT FOUND
Spastic muscles in stroke and cerebral palsy have altered architecture and stiffness, and ultrasound stiffness tests may help separate passive from nerve-related stiffness.
This review does not show that any treatment works.
Key findings
01In children with severe cerebral palsy and contracture, sarcomeres are dramatically longer than in typically developing control children.
02Stroke survivors and people with cerebral palsy have loss of muscle mass, and increased joint or muscle stiffness can limit movement.
03Shear wave velocity, an ultrasound stiffness measure, was reported 60% greater on average in passive biceps on the paretic side than on the non-paretic side and compared with healthy controls.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The article summarizes a conference session and prior studies; it does not report its own participants, outcomes or search method. Muscle property findings are incomplete or inconsistent, including inconclusive fascicle length changes in cerebral palsy, inconsistent pennation angle changes, and unknown mechanisms of sarcomere adaptation. Shear wave ultrasound stiffness measures are described as potential tools, but the review does not test them as a clinical decision method. The review mixes animal, computational and human findings, so results from models or animals may not transfer directly to patients.
Declared interests
The article names NIDDR and the National Institutes of Health as funders. It does not state author conflict-of-interest declarations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the ultrasound stiffness findings or the sarcomere length findings as evidence that a therapy works. The paper is a review of muscle mechanics, not a treatment trial, and it does not show which intervention changes outcomes.