Article

Objective: To describe the reliability of an instrument
(Neuro- Flexor) designed
to be used in the clinic for quantification of the relative contribution of
spasticity, elasticity and viscosity to resistance during passive wrist
movements. Design: A test-retest and inter-rater reliability study. Subjects: A convenience sample of 34 adults with chronic stroke with spasticity in the hand,
and a reference group of 10 healthy persons. Methods:
Two raters assessed the
participants with the NeuroFlexor. Elastic, viscous and neural components of
passive movement resistance were quantified at the wrist.
Test-retest and
inter-rater intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2.1) were calculated for each
component for both raters and two sessions. Degree of measurement error was
evaluated using the coefficient of variation and the repeatability coefficient.
Results: Reliability was high for the neural component
(test-retest: 0.90-0.96;
inter-rater: 0.90-0.94), fair to good for the elastic component (test-retest:
0.79-0.88; inter-rater: 0.76-0.76), and fair to high for the viscous component
(test-retest: 0.88-0.90; inter-rater: 0.75-0.80).
Based on test-retest data, the
coefficients of variation for the neural, elastic and viscous components were
25%, 26% and 16%, respectively, and the repeatability coefficients were 1.798,
1.897 and 1.404, respectively. Conclusion: The NeuroFlexor instrument is a reliable measure of spasticity and of muscle elasticity and viscosity in
individuals with wrist and finger muscle resistance to passive stretch after stroke.

Langue : ANGLAIS