The Intra- and Inter-Rater Reliability of an Instrumented Spasticity Assessment in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Limited intrinsic/extrinsic errors were introduced by repeated stretch repetitions. The parameters were more reliable when the same rater, rather than different raters performed the evaluation. Standardisation and training should be further improved to reduce extrinsic error when different raters perform the measurement. Errors were also muscle specific, or related to the measurement set-up. They need to be accounted for, in particular when assessing pre-post interventions or longitudinal follow-up. The parameters of the instrumented spasticity assessment demonstrate a wide range of applications for both research and clinical environments in the quantification of spasticity.