Abstract
This retrospective study examined the initial therapy notes of home-care patients to determine the ability of manual muscle testing (MMT) to identify muscle weakness and explain functional independence. Manual muscle test scores for trunk flexion and 3 lower limb muscle actions (hip flexion, knee extension, and ankle dorsiflexion) were obtained bilaterally as was independence in sit-to-stand and walking 50 feet. All 31 patients (mean age 72.8) demonstrated muscle weakness in some tested muscle group. Less than maximum MMT scores were most common for hip flexion (100%) and least common for knee extension (51.6%). All but 2 individual and combined strength measures correlated significantly with both sit-to-stand and walking independence. The correlations ranged from 0.308 to 0.748. Based on its ability to identify weakness and explain functional independence, MMT appears to be an appropriate measure for use with patients seen in a home-care setting.