Observations on the applicability of the Wartenberg pendulum test to healthy, elderly subjects.

Wartenberg pendulum test: objective quantification of muscle tone in children with spastic diplegia undergoing selective dorsal rhizotomy

“…Brown and collaborators studied the importance of the test position in non-disabled elderly individuals and found that the position contributed very little to the total variability (Brown et al 1988a). In a small group of non-disabled young adults this contribution was even smaller.…”

“…the amplitude of the first swing divided by the final angle of the knee (Boczko and Mumenthaler 1958, Bajd and Vodovnik 1984, Katz et al 1992. In non-disabled elderly persons the R2 ratio is generally more than 1.6 (Brown et al 1988a(Brown et al , 1988bKatz et al 1992). It has been shown to correlate well with the degree of spasticity, as quantified using a clinical assessment such as the Ashworth scale, in adults with MS (Leslie et al 1992) and hemiparesis (Katz et al 1992).…”

Modeling and Identification of Mechanical and Reflex Properties related to Spasticity in Stroke Patients using Multiple Pendulum Tests

“…The time delay between the onset of the afferent signal from the muscle spindle and the onset of the muscle activation was expressed as pure time lag (t d = 30msec) (6) as:…”

“…(30) It is easy to use, is specific to the quadriceps (an important muscle for functional activities), is simple in nature, and not intimidating to young children and individuals with cognitive impairment. (6) Katz et. al.…”

“…(2), (3), (5), (6), (9), (11), (12), (14), (15) The majority of the studies have modeled a spastic knee joint as a second-order system to describe the pendulum-like behavior. The spastic torque from the stretch reflex was added to the model as a velocity-dependent one, which caused the trajectory to deviate from a normal pendular appearance.…”