Assessment of Muscle Performance/Strength, Muscle Tone, Sensation, Coordination, and Simple Cognition

You are going to assess the presence of hypertonicity in your patient with a spinal cord injury. You would most likely be testing for __________ and would need to move the tested limb ____________

Spasticity; quickly

The Modified Tardieu Scale

compares the dynamic range of a muscle (R1) to the slow, passive end range (R2)

Which of the following is a characteristic of spasticity?

There is a "clasp knife"/first catch felt with rapid passive movement.

You have been working with a patient post-stroke for a month. During your return visit, he notes that the spasticity in his affected extremities has significantly increased in the last four of days. What should you do or ask about next?

Ask about other health symptoms that could indicate a change in his medical status.

When observing performance of a functional task, which phase of movement will be most affected in someone with a cerebellar disorder?

Termination

When assessing functional task performance in someone with cerebellar ataxia, what would you expect to observe?

A decreased ability to adapt movements to varied task demands.

When you perform the finger to nose test, your patient performs the movement slowly by first flexing the shoulder and then extending the elbow before touching the examiner's finger. The patient accurately touches the examiner's fingertip. You should:

0-Activity is impossible

1-Severe impairment: able to only initiate activity without completion; movements are slow with significant unsteadiness, oscillations, and/or extraneous movements

2-Moderate impairment: Able to accomplish activity; movements are slow, awkward and unsteady

3-Minimal impairment: Able to accomplish activity; slightly less than normal control, speed and steadiness

4-Normal performance

Ask the patient to repeat the motion at a faster speed

T/F: You should assess tests of range of motion and strength before assessing and interpreting coordination tests.

True

Performance of the heel on shin test in sitting during examination of non-equilibrium coordination assesses

Synergy and accuracy