Rate of force development and relaxation scaling factors are highly sensitive to detect upper extremity motor impairments in multiple sclerosis

Clinical assessment of upper extremity in multiple sclerosis is mainly limited to 9-hole peg test (9-HPT), which is commonly criticized due to its limited sensitivity. There is a need for sensitive outcome measures for the assessment of motor symptoms in individuals with multiple sclerosis (iMS). We evaluated our recently developed brief force pulse protocol to simultaneously quantify the motor control of hand function and neuromuscular quickness in iMS. Additionally, we compared the sensitivity of the studied outcome measures with 9-HPT in detecting the differences between iMS and controls.
Source: Journal of the Neurological Sciences - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research