Early testing can predict stroke patients who will develop upper limb spasticity

Spasticity and related complications are relatively common after stroke, leading to poorer joint range of motion, greater pain and less sensitivity in the arm one year later.

A study at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, has found that the Fugl-Meyer assessment scale, a sensorimotor test performed during the first month after stroke, predicts with a fairly high degree of accuracy the patients who will develop spasticity within one year.

Poor sensorimotor function

A total of 117 Gothenburg area patients with an average age of 67 participated in the study. All of them had experienced poorer sensorimotor function in the arm three days after first-ever stroke. Upper limb sensorimotor function, spasticity and joint range of motion were monitored over the following year.

Arve Opheim, a researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy, says, "Our findings suggest that systematic examinations of sensorimotor function can identify patients at risk of developing spasticity so that they can obtain early treatment. Opportunities for minimizing pain, impaired function and other repercussions of spasticity will inevitably follow."

The article "Early Prediction of Long-term Upper Limb Spasticity after Stroke: Part of the SALGOT Study" was published in Neurology on August 14, 2015.