Quadriceps muscle tone, elasticity and stiffness in older males: reliability and symmetry using the MyotonPRO
Quadriceps muscle tone, elasticity and stiffness in older males: reliability and symmetry using the MyotonPRO
Background
The MyotonPRO (Myoton Ltd; London) is a new portable device for measuring muscle mechanical properties (e.g. tone) and its reliability has yet to be established. Little is known about between-limb symmetry of mechanical properties in healthy older people, despite symmetry often being used as a measure of unilateral abnormalities in clinical assessment. Since quadriceps is important for mobility, it was selected for the present study.
Aims
To investigate: (i) between-day intra-rater reliability of a novice user of MyotonPRO; (ii) between-side symmetry of mechanical properties of quadriceps in older males.
Methods
Twenty healthy, community dwelling, right-lower-limb-dominant males (mean age 71.7, range 65–82 years) were studied. With the participant in relaxed supine lying, the MyotonPRO applied two consecutive sets of 10 taps to induce muscle oscillations of rectus femoris, from which measurements of decrement (elasticity), frequency (tone), and stiffness were obtained. Tests were performed on two occasions at the same time and day of the week, one week apart.
Results
Repeated measurements had very high within-day (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC 3,1 > 0.90) and high between-day (ICC 3,2 > 0.70; mean of two measurement sets) reliability. There was no statistically significant difference between muscle mechanical properties of the dominant and non-dominant muscles (<2.5% difference; p > 0.05), thereby indicating symmetry.
Conclusions
High intra-rater reliability was established for MyotonPRO measurements of quadriceps in healthy older males, which were symmetrical between sides. These findings indicate that larger studies are warranted to establish normal reference ranges of data with which to compare patients with muscle abnormalities.
quadriceps, rectus femoris, reliability, symmetry, mechanical properties
e31-e39
Aird, L.
c73a0de8-bcb3-4a03-a43a-e973ed7c01e5
Samuel, D.
03b00738-9b9c-4c0a-a85a-cf43fc0932fc
Stokes, M.
71730503-70ce-4e67-b7ea-a3e54579717f
September 2012
Aird, L.
c73a0de8-bcb3-4a03-a43a-e973ed7c01e5
Samuel, D.
03b00738-9b9c-4c0a-a85a-cf43fc0932fc
Stokes, M.
71730503-70ce-4e67-b7ea-a3e54579717f
Aird, L., Samuel, D. and Stokes, M.
(2012)
Quadriceps muscle tone, elasticity and stiffness in older males: reliability and symmetry using the MyotonPRO.
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 55 (2), .
(doi:10.1016/j.archger.2012.03.005).
(PMID:22503549)
Abstract
Background
The MyotonPRO (Myoton Ltd; London) is a new portable device for measuring muscle mechanical properties (e.g. tone) and its reliability has yet to be established. Little is known about between-limb symmetry of mechanical properties in healthy older people, despite symmetry often being used as a measure of unilateral abnormalities in clinical assessment. Since quadriceps is important for mobility, it was selected for the present study.
Aims
To investigate: (i) between-day intra-rater reliability of a novice user of MyotonPRO; (ii) between-side symmetry of mechanical properties of quadriceps in older males.
Methods
Twenty healthy, community dwelling, right-lower-limb-dominant males (mean age 71.7, range 65–82 years) were studied. With the participant in relaxed supine lying, the MyotonPRO applied two consecutive sets of 10 taps to induce muscle oscillations of rectus femoris, from which measurements of decrement (elasticity), frequency (tone), and stiffness were obtained. Tests were performed on two occasions at the same time and day of the week, one week apart.
Results
Repeated measurements had very high within-day (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC 3,1 > 0.90) and high between-day (ICC 3,2 > 0.70; mean of two measurement sets) reliability. There was no statistically significant difference between muscle mechanical properties of the dominant and non-dominant muscles (<2.5% difference; p > 0.05), thereby indicating symmetry.
Conclusions
High intra-rater reliability was established for MyotonPRO measurements of quadriceps in healthy older males, which were symmetrical between sides. These findings indicate that larger studies are warranted to establish normal reference ranges of data with which to compare patients with muscle abnormalities.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 13 April 2012
Published date: September 2012
Keywords:
quadriceps, rectus femoris, reliability, symmetry, mechanical properties
Organisations:
Faculty of Health Sciences
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 337035
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/337035
ISSN: 0167-4943
PURE UUID: 6b6d0095-e83d-4079-b635-27bd4a6491e6
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 16 Apr 2012 14:11
Last modified: 17 Apr 2024 01:39
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
L. Aird
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
