Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
J Biomech. 2010 Jun 18;43(9):1831-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.02.024. Epub 2010 Feb 26.
Quantitative measurement of ankle joint stiffness following stroke could prove useful in monitoring the progress of a rehabilitation programme. The objective of this study was to design a manual device for use in the clinical setting. Manual measurement of spastic ankle joint stiffness has historically been conducted using hand-held dynamometers or alternative devices, but some difficulties have been reported in controlling the velocity applied to the ankle during the measurement. In this study, a manually operated device was constructed with a footplate, a torquemeter and a potentiometer. It was mechanically designed to rotate around an approximated axis of the ankle joint and to measure ankle joint angular position and its corresponding resistive torque. Two stroke hemiplegic subjects pariticapted in a pilot study. The results suggested that difficulty in controlling the applied velocity might be complemented by presenting torque data as a function of peak angular velocity in each stretching cycle. Moreover, the results demonstrated that the device could potentially apply a wide range of angular velocities and provide potentially useful clinical information. Quantitative data successfully acquired using this method included the approximate ankle angular position, where the velocity-dependent characteristics of stiffness was notably initiated and its corresponding torque and velocity.
定量测量脑卒中后踝关节僵硬程度可能有助于监测康复计划的进展。本研究的目的是设计一种用于临床环境的手动装置。手动测量痉挛性踝关节僵硬程度在历史上一直使用手持测力计或替代设备进行，但在测量过程中控制施加到踝关节的速度时，报告了一些困难。在这项研究中，使用脚踏板、扭矩计和电位计构建了一个手动操作的装置。它在机械上设计成围绕踝关节的近似轴旋转，并测量踝关节的角度位置及其对应的阻力扭矩。两名脑卒中偏瘫受试者参与了一项试点研究。结果表明，通过将扭矩数据表示为每个拉伸周期中的峰值角速度的函数，可能可以弥补施加速度控制困难的问题。此外，结果表明该设备可以潜在地施加广泛的角速度并提供潜在有用的临床信息。使用这种方法成功获取的定量数据包括近似踝关节角度位置，其中刚度的速度依赖性特征明显开始，以及相应的扭矩和速度。
