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Lookup NU author(s): Jose Salazar Torres, Dr Anand Pandyan, Dr Christopher Price, Robert Davidson, Professor Michael Barnes, Professor Garth Johnson
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Spasticity is a clinical condition that may develop in people with central nervous system injuries. It is believed that spasticity results from changes in the excitability of the stretch reflex pathways manifesting clinically as a velocity dependent increase in resistance to passive movement (RTPM) and exaggerated tendon jerks. A biomechanical device was designed to provide a 90 ms torque controlled stretch to the biceps brachii. The stretch reflex response was recorded using surface electromyography and angular displacement with a potentiometer. A pilot study was carried out in four stroke and one non-impaired volunteers. Four different magnitudes of torque were applied to the elbow. Stretch reflex characterisation was done on EMG data collected 150 ms before and to complete 450 ms after the perturbation. The outcome measures were the range of movement, the amplitude of the rectified reflex response and, the latency, rise time and duration of the smoothed reflex response. The reflex in the stroke patients was not significantly different from normals (p>0.10). The mechanical model developed suggest that changes in reflex excitability may not necessarily contribute to joint stiffness (r2>0.9).
Author(s): Salazar-Torres JDJ; Johnson GR; Pandyan AD; Davidson RI; Barnes MP; Price CIM
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: Proceedings of the 25th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
Year of Conference: 2003
Pages: 1491-1494
ISSN: 1094-687X
Publisher: IEEE
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/IEMBS.2003.1279622
DOI: 10.1109/IEMBS.2003.1279622
Library holdings: Search Newcastle University Library for this item
ISBN: 0780377893
