BACKGROUND: An increase in the prevalence of @entity16 puts pressure on service providers to restrict costs associated with rehabilitation. Spasticity is an important @entity16 for which many novel and expensive treatment options now exist. The antispastic effects of these techniques remain unexplored due to a paucity of valid outcome measures. AIM: To develop a biomechanical measure of resistance to passive movement, which could be used in routine clinical practice, and to examine the validity of the modified Ashworth scale. STUDY DESIGN: Repeated measure cross-section study on 16 subjects who had a @entity64 one-week previously and had no elbow @entity1159 . OUTCOME MEASURES: Simultaneous measurement of resistance to passive movement using a custom built measuring device and the modified Ashworth scale. Passive range of movement and velocity were also measured. The "catch", a phenomenon associated with the modified Ashworth scale, was identified by the assessor using a horizontal visual analogue scale and biomechanically quantified using the residual calculated from a linear regression technique. RESULTS: Half the study population had a modified Ashworth score greater than zero. The association between the two measures was poor (kappa=0.366). The speed and range of passive movement were greater in subjects with modified Ashworth score "0" (P<0.05). Resistance to passive movement was higher in the impaired arm (P<0.05) and tended to decrease with repeated measures and increasing speeds. CONCLUSIONS: A device to measure resistance to passive movement at the elbow was developed. The modified Ashworth scale may not provide a valid measure of @entity508 but a measure of resistance to passive movement in an @entity64 . RELEVANCE: Spasticity is an important @entity16 for which many novel and expensive treatment options are being made available. There is a paucity of clinically usable outcomes to measure @entity508 . A device to measure resistance to passive movement at the elbow, which was more reliable than the modified Ashworth scale was developed. This device may provide a much needed objective clinical measure to evaluate the efficacy of antispasticity treatment.

Biomechanical examination of a commonly used measure of XXXX .

@entity16 :: ('MESH:D009422', 'Disease') :: ['neurological impairment', 'neurological disability'] @entity64 :: ('MESH:D020521', 'Disease') :: ['unilateral stroke', 'acute stroke population'] @entity508 :: ('MESH:D009128', 'Disease') :: ['spasticity'] @entity1159 :: ('MESH:D003286', 'Disease') :: ['contractures']
@entity508 :: (MESH:D009128,Disease) :: ['spasticity']
