The purpose of this study was to collect reference data on different aspects of performance, including reaction time, speed of movement, tapping speed, and coordination of hands and feet using Human Performance Measurement/Basic Elements of Performance equipment and reports of reference data findings. Also, the reliability of the measurements is presented. 200 healthy, randomly selected subjects (100 men, 100 women; aged 21-70 years) were categorized by gender and by age decade into ten groups. The test battery consisted of six tests for both hands and feet. In general, the performance decreased clearly after 50 years in both genders. There were statistically significant differences between hands and feet, dominant and non-dominant sides, age groups, and number of choices, and especially between men and women.

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The object was to study the relationships between calf muscle size and strength in 85 patients an average of 3.1 years after repair of achilles tendon rupture. The isokinetic calf muscle strength results were excellent or good for 73% of the patients, whereas calf muscle size was normal in only 30%. The average plantar flexion peak torque per unit muscle cross-sectional area was higher on the injured side than on the uninjured side. The average calf muscle cross-sectional area deficit was 15+/-9% (p<0.001) of that on the unaffected side, while the average plantar flexion peak torque deficit was speed-dependent, being 9+/-18%, 10+/-18 and 2+/-13% of that on the unaffected side at 30, 90, and 240 degrees/sec (p<0.001). The correlation between cross-sectional area and peak torque varied in the range 0.52-0.61 at 30, 90 and 240 degrees/sec (p<0.001).

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The purpose of the study was to examine the recovery of some motor performance aspects of the lower extremity after Achilles tendon (AT) rupture repair by early functional postoperative treatment and early postoperative immobilization of the AT in tension in the early phase of recovery. The measured motor performance aspects were reaction time, speed of movement, foot tapping speed and coordination. The study population comprised 30 patients operated on for an acute, complete, closed AT rupture. The surgical technique was Kessler sutures plus one aponeurosis flap in all cases, and postoperatively the subjects were randomly divided to have immobilization with a plaster cast or an active brace. Measurements were made 12 and 24 weeks after the operation. There were no statistically significant differences in the results between the operated and contralateral nonoperated lower extremities 12 and 24 weeks after the operation in either group. When the results were compared between the plaster cast and active brace groups, no statistically significant differences were seen in reaction times, speed of movement, tapping speed and anterior-posterior coordination on either side, but the lateral coordination value of the operated leg was higher in the plaster cast group than in the active brace group 12 weeks after the operation (p<0.05). By 24 weeks after the operation, this unique difference had disappeared. It seems that the recovery of the above mentioned motor performance functions of the leg does not depend on whether the leg is in a plaster cast with the AT in tension or in an active brace during the early postoperative period after AT rupture repair. These functions of the operated leg had recovered to the level of the contralateral nonoperated leg by 12 weeks after the operation.