Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 51-1CompleteIssue | Page 62

Reliability of spasticity assessment
dystonia. A more recently published definition of
spasticity encompasses all positive features of the
UMNS, including spasticity, hypertonia, tendon re-
flexes, dystonia, clonus and spasms under a single
umbrella term (11). While this definition may provide
a more holistic overview of the UMNS, there are as-
sociated challenges in developing an assessment tool
that addresses each component of the UMNS. Due to
the high prevalence of velocity-dependent spasticity
and the profound impact it has on functional outcomes
following neurological injury (3–6, 9), it is important
that the clinical tools used to assess spasticity are both
valid and reliable (11, 13, 14).
Conclusion
There was a large degree of inter- and intra-rater varia-
bility in testing velocity when using the MTS to assess
for lower limb spasticity. The inter-rater variability was
approximately double the intra-rater variability across
all 5 muscle groups and the largest variability existed
at the ankle joint (gastrocnemius and soleus). Joint
start angle, end angle and total ROM demonstrated
less variability than testing velocity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project was supported by funding obtained from the Austra-
lian Physiotherapy Research Foundation Seeding Grant, Royal
Automobile Club of Victoria Sir Edmund Herring Memorial
Scholarship, and the Epworth Research Institute.
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