Reliability of System Identification Techniques to Assess Standing Balance in Healthy Elderly

Objectives System identification techniques have the potential to assess the contribution of the underlying systems involved in standing balance by applying well-known disturbances. We investigated the reliability of standing balance parameters obtained with multivariate closed loop system identification techniques. Methods In twelve healthy...

Comprehensive neuromechanical assessment in stroke patients: Reliability and responsiveness of a protocol to measure neural and non-neural wrist properties

Background: Understanding movement disorder after stroke and providing targeted treatment for post stroke patients requires valid and reliable identification of biomechanical (passive) and neural (active and reflexive) contributors. Aim of this study was to assess test-retest reliability of passive, active and reflexive parameters and to...

Differentiation between non-neural and neural contributors to ankle joint stiffness in cerebral palsy

Background Spastic paresis in cerebral palsy (CP) is characterized by increased joint stiffness that may be of neural origin, i.e. improper muscle activation caused by e.g. hyperreflexia or non-neural origin, i.e. altered tissue viscoelastic properties (clinically: “spasticity” vs. “contracture”). Differentiation between these components is hard...

The gap between clinical gaze and systematic assessment of movement disorders after stroke

Background: Movement disorders after stroke are still captured by clinical gaze and translated to ordinal scores of low resolution. There is a clear need for objective quantification, with outcome measures related to pathophysiological background. Neural and non-neural contributors to joint behavior should be separated using different...

The relation between neuromechanical parameters and Ashworth score in stroke patients

Quantifying increased joint resistance into its contributing factors i.e. stiffness and viscosity ("hypertonia") and stretch reflexes ("hyperreflexia") is important in stroke rehabilitation. Existing clinical tests, such as the Ashworth Score, do not permit discrimination between underlying tissue and reflexive (neural) properties. We propose an...

Tizanidine does not affect the linear relation of stretch duration to the long latency M2 response of m. flexor carpi radialis

The long latency M2 electromyographic response of a suddenly stretched active muscle is stretch duration dependent of which the nature is unclear. We investigated the inXuence of the group II aVerent blocker tizanidine on M2 response characteristics of the m. Xexor carpi radialis (FCR). M2 response magnitude and eliciting probability in a group...

Impact of early applied upper limb stimulation: The EXPLICIT-stroke programme design

Main claims of the literature are that functional recovery of the paretic upper limb is mainly defined within the first month post stroke and that rehabilitation services should preferably be applied intensively and in a task-oriented way within this particular time window. EXplaining PLastICITy after stroke (acronym EXPLICIT-stroke) aims to...