Developing a quantitative measure of muscle spasticity

Quantitative measurement of spasticity is necessary and can contribute to clinical rehabilitation management, which aims to restore and/or improve function in the affected part of the body. The proposed study shows that by using computerized motional analysis systems, a more quantitative measurement of muscle spasticity can be obtained. High speed, high resolution, infrared, stroboscopic cameras are used to capture kinematic data of the hip, knee, and ankle during pendulum knee drop test. Electromagnetic sensors are used to gather angular motion data of the knee and ankle joint during performance of this test. Implementation of these methods provides accurate, consistent, and reproducible quantification of muscle spasticity, which can be used to assess the effectiveness of clinical treatments.