Interesting way to assess spasticity. How small a muscle would this work on? Finger intrinsics?
Thermography assessment of spastic lower limb in patients after cerebral stroke undergoing rehabilitation
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Abstract
Stroke
contributes to disability in adulthood. The assessment of the degree of
spasticity is one of the basic methods of patient examination after
stroke and is used for monitoring rehabilitative outcomes; however, no
optimal scale for the unambiguous assessment of spasticity exists. Our
study aimed to assess the usefulness of thermography in measuring the
effects of rehabilitation in stroke patients’ spastic hemiparesis. In
this prospective, single-center study, 40 stroke patients with a mean
age of 60.6 ± 5.5 years were enrolled. All suffered from hemiparesis.
Surface temperature of the shank was assessed with infrared
thermography; degree of independence with the Barthel Index; and muscle
tone with the Modified Ashworth Scale. A comparison of temperature
between the spastic and non-spastic posterior part of the shank was
conducted. Temperature changes, severity of spasticity, and gait pattern
were evaluated and compared at baseline and after 6 weeks of
rehabilitation. All patients completed a rehabilitation program. The
baseline temperature in the spastic extremity was significantly lower
than in the normal extremity (mean temperature 28.93 °C vs 30.20 °C; p = 0.0001).
After rehabilitation, the temperature in the spastic extremity
increased significantly; however, the significant difference between the
two extremities persisted (mean temperature 29.76 °C vs 30.54 °C; p = 0.0001). After rehabilitation, spasticity in affected extremity decreased significantly (p > 0.001).
Additionally, an improvement in gait pattern was observed. We conclude
that thermography proved to be useful in the assessment of
rehabilitation effects in stroke patients with spastic hemiparesis;
thus, it can be considered an additional tool for determining impaired
muscle tone in patients with spasticity.
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