Disability profiles and objective quantitative assessment in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

A new technique for quick objective and quantitative determination of important aspects of the motor handicap in movement disorders is presented. A compound, but natural, test movement was used to find out if the degree of dysfunction in postural, locomotor and manual motor functions differed among the patients and if medication influenced these functions differently. After 12 h without medication, 16 patients with Parkinson's disease showed a movement time between 1.5 and 13.6 times that of an age-matched normal subject and a greater performance variability on repeated examination. In some patients the increase of test movement time was caused mainly by the locomotion component while in others the time for the postural or manual part of the movement was more markedly augmented. Thus, a specific motor disability profile was found for each patient and expressed in quantitative terms. The effects of l-dopa treatment were quantified in each patient.

Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Mobility Over the Adult Age Range Using the Postural-Locomotor-Manual Test

“…The TMT values and those of the individual phases increase in the older subjects, whereas the SI values tend to be reduced. These trends are in general agreement with the results of Johnels et al (3). However, direct comparison of the results is not possible because, in contrast to these authors, we have separated males from females.…”

“…The PLM-test has been used on healthy subjects over a wide age range (1), on elderly subjects (2), and on patients with Parkinson's disease (3)(4)(5). It would appear from these reports that the PLM-test is a good method to quantify complex movements, but little or no attention has been given so far to the following points: (e) There is no consensus as to whether the test should be performed with the subject moving as fast as possible or whether the subject should choose his or her own speed.…”

Dynamic Strength in Parkinson’s Disease

“…[1][2][3][4], However, results concerning objective quantification of motor symptoms in neurological diseases are rarely pre sented [5][6][7]. In the last few years, some reports on muscle strength in Parkinson's disease (PD) which suggest a reduction in isometric force have been published [8,11], Measurements of isokinetic strength (concentric contrac tion) in neurological disease have been reported [10][11][12], but comparatively seldom.…”

“…14], The mean duration of dis ease was 6.08 years, range 4-8 years. The group was rated according to Hoehn and Yahr (I-II) and the Webster rating scale [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. One patient was troubled by dyskinesia and another by beginning on-off symptoms.…”

Speech Motor Control in Parkinson’s Disease: A Comparison between a Clinical Assessment Protocol and a Quantitative Analysis of Mandibular Movements

“…Kinematic analyses now play an essential part in both experimental and rou tine clinical evaluations of treatment effects [ 2].…”