Convergent validity and test-retest reliability of multimodal ultrasound and related clinical measures in people with chronic stroke

Unilateral alterations in muscle structure1, composition2,3, viscoelastic characteristics3 and microvasculature4 are evident during chronic stages of stroke recovery. Changes to paretic muscle tissue after stroke are mechanistically complex and often inconsistent with alterations typically resulting from disuse, over-stimulation or aging alone5,6. Ultrasound provides a clear diagnostic advantage for objectively measuring muscle changes in real-time7. While commonly used assessments and scales (e.g., Modified Ashworth and Tardieu) provide a clinical gradation of neuromuscular dysfunction (i.e., degree of spasticity, resistance to passive extensibility, etc.), these are ultimately anchoring approaches with their own inherent limitations (e.g., no standardization of stretch velocity during manual testing, relative quantification of resistance, subjective scoring)8 and are insufficient for evaluating morphological alterations in paretic relative to non-paretic muscles9.
Source: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Category: Rehabilitation Authors: Source Type: research