Development of an equipment to detect and quantify muscular spasticity

• Author(s): Fernandes, Valter Pires
• Date: 2013
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/11066
• Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Subject(s): Biomedical engineering; Medical device; Biomechanics; Muscular tonus; Spasticity assessment
• Document Type: Master thesis
• Language: English
• Advisor(s): Vieira, Pedro; Quaresma, Cláudia
• Contributor(s): RUN

Description

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Biomédica

Spasticity consists of a muscular tonus alteration caused by a flawed central nervous system which results in a hypertonic phenomenon. The presence of spasticity is normally noticeable by the appearance of a denoted velocity dependent “rigidity” throughout the passive mobilization of an affected limb which can be a potential source of constraints in subject independency by negatively affecting the accomplishment of daily basic tasks. Spasticity treatment usually comprises high cost methods and materials. There is also a strict relation between the spasticity grade and the dose that has to be applied to attain the desired effective result. These two facts justify the need for a more precise equipment to detect and quantify muscular spasticity. In the present days, three main groups of spasticity quantification methods coexist: the clinical scales, electrophysiological measurements and the biomechanical measurements. The most used ones are the clinical scales, especially the Modified Ashworth Scale. These scales quantify spasticity based on the perception of muscular response sensed by an operator. In a different field of approach, many instruments have been built to quantify biomechanical magnitudes that have shown direct relation with spasticity. Unfortunately, most of these instruments had either inappropriate size for clinical use, weak result correlation both inter and intra-subject, or a noticeable result dependence on the operator. The objective of this project was to create a reliable method for spasticity detection and quantification that could: be of easy and fast application, have no need for a specialized operator, be portable and present good repeatability and independency from the operator in the produced results. The resulting prototype, named SpastiMed, is a motorized and electronically controlled device which through analysis of the produced signal presented irrefutable proof of its capacity to detect and possibly quantify spasticity while gathering the important characteristics mentioned.