The purpose of this study was to quantitatively compare the difference in voluntary upper extremity movements between subjects with and without spasticity. Eight normal subjects (mean 26.7/spl plusmn/2.8 years, four males and four females) and seven subjects with spasticity (mean 25.9/spl plusmn/4.3 years, three males and four females) were involved in this study. The subjects sat in an adjustable chair and performed two voluntary tasks involving the elbow joint. Task A was to move the hand between two touch-plates which were mounted 28 cm apart on the surface of the table. Task B was to flex and extend the elbow joint in the sagittal plane with the forearm in neutral position. Reflective markers were attached on the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist. A Peak5 video-based motion analysis system was used to record the positions of the markers in the three-dimensional (3-D) space during the movement tasks. A set of quantitative parameters were used to document the elbow movement. The results revealed that in comparison to normal subjects, subjects with spasticity exhibited a higher average jerk, a larger standard deviation of the coordinates of the markers along the movement path, a larger standard deviation of the angle between the plane of the elbow joint and the horizontal plane, and a longer 3-D path length. The characteristics of spastic elbow movement and the usage of quantitative parameters were discussed.
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