Abstract
Pang MY, Mak MK. Influence of contraction type, speed, and joint angle on ankle muscle
weakness in Parkinson's disease: implications for rehabilitation.
Objective
To compare the ankle muscle strength and torque-angle relationship between individuals
with Parkinson's disease (PD) and participants without impairments.
Design
Cross-sectional, exploratory study.
Setting
Motor control laboratory in a university.
Participants
Convenience sample of community-dwelling individuals with PD (n=59) recruited from
a PD self-help group and age-matched participants without impairments (n=37) recruited
from community older adult centers.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measure
Peak torque and angle-torque profile during concentric and eccentric contraction of
ankle dorsiflexors and plantarflexors at 2 different angular speeds (45 and 90°/s).
Results
The PD group displayed lower muscle peak torque values than participants without impairments
in all test conditions. Generally, concentric strength was more compromised, with
a greater between-group difference (Cohen d=1.29–1.60) than eccentric strength (Cohen d=.81–1.37). Significant group by angular speed interaction was observed in ankle plantarflexion
concentric peak torque (P<.001), indicating that muscle weakness was more pronounced when the angular speed
was increased. The group by joint angle interaction in concentric contraction of ankle
plantarflexors at 90°/s was also significant (P<.001), revealing that the between-group difference in torque values became increasingly
more pronounced when the joint was moving toward the end range of the ankle plantarflexion.
This exaggerated ankle plantarflexor muscle weakness at the end range was significantly
correlated with clinical balance measures (P<.05).
Conclusions
Muscle weakness in PD is influenced by contraction type, angular speed, and joint
range. Exaggerated weakness is found in concentric contraction of ankle plantarflexors,
particularly when the angular speed is high and the muscle is in shortened lengths.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
ANCOVA (analysis of covariance), COG (center of gravity), LOS (limit of stability), OLS (1-leg standing), PD (Parkinson's disease), UPDRS (Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 18, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (grant no. G-SAA6 ), and the SK Yee Medical Foundation (grant no. ZH61 ).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the author.
In-press corrected proof published online on Aug 2, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
