Abstract
The aims of the study were to assess the reproducibility and validity of very weak knee flexors and extensors muscle strength with a new isokinetic evaluation procedure.
Subjects and methods: Reproducibility mean and maximal work without correction of gravity was first assessed in 14 neuromuscular patients, at 10°/s. Three patients suffering from Guillain-Barre Syndrome were then investigated at different states of recovery. Maximal concentric effort was performed at 10°/s and 30°/s. Acute correction of gravity was performed as forces values measured during passive mobilisation were removed from active measurements. Correlation between manual muscle testing and maximal moment and mean work was explored.
Results: Reproducibility was judged acceptable. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.7 to 0.84. In the correlation study, manual muscle assessment ranged from 2 to 4 and peak of forces ranged from 0.4 Nm to 51.88 Nm. There was a significant positive relationship as Spearman Correlation coefficients ranged from 0.77 to 0.89.
Conclusion: Weak muscle isokinetic evaluation is reproducible and well correlated to clinical evaluation. This evaluation procedure could be of great interest in neurological diseases investigations.