Cybex® II Isokinetic Dynamometer for the Documentation of Spasticity

Abstract

Recent studies involving patients with CNS lesions have clearly demonstrated that agonist paresis rather than antagonist spasticity is the primary factor limiting torque production.1,2 The presence of spasticity can, nonetheless, be important because of its effect on the quality of movement and because of the propensity of spastic muscles toward contracture.3 Therefore, methods for more precisely documenting spasticity remain of value to those clinicians who include among their therapeutic goals the reduction of spasticity. Among the methods proposed for measuring spasticity (resistance to passive movement) are the Ashworth test4 and the goniometric pendulum test.5–7 Alfieri reported that the Ashworth test can provide an indication of therapeutic efficacy but is of limited objectivity because it uses an ordinal scale.8 The pendulum test, on the other hand, provides a more objective measurement on a continuous ratio scale.