Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2009
In the past, much of the controversy about the management of spasticity has been due to a lack of commonly accepted definitions of the disorder, the difficulty in measuring spasticity as well as the changing nature of the motor activity limitations with growth and maturation. There was also a paucity of data to validate clinical practice. However, there is now a growing body of evidence on which to base clinical practice. While many disciplines are involved in the management of spasticity, physiotherapists have a unique role in applying their understanding of the biomechanics of movement to the analysis of motor activity limitations and their knowledge of motor learning principles to reduce activity limitations. The emphasis of this chapter is on improving muscle performance in order to enable activity rather than preparing the patient for function by affecting abnormal reflex activity. In addition, we discuss the physiotherapist's goal in using orthoses and the role of physiotherapists in pharmacological and surgical interventions. Clinical applications for children with cerebral palsy and adults after stroke are highlighted because these individuals are the largest groups with brain damage.
What is spasticity?
Spasticity is one of the impairments affecting function following brain damage. It is typical to consider the impairments associated with the upper motor neurone syndrome as either positive or negative. Negative impairments are those features that have been lost following brain damage (e.g. loss of strength and dexterity), whereas positive impairments are those features which are additional (e.g. spasticity and abnormal postures) (Jackson, 1958; Landau, 1980; Burke, 1988).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.