Clinical assessment of muscular fatigue
The Open Orthopaedics Journal recently published "Inter-rater Reliability of Sustained Aberrant Movement Patterns as a Clinical Assessment of Muscular Fatigue" by: Frank Aerts, PT, DSc, OCS, CMPT, CMP, CMET; Kathy Carrier, PT, DSc, CLT-LANA; and Becky Alwood, OTR, MHS, CLT .
A patient's response to a therapeutic exercise program depends on the effectiveness of the program and the value of its delivery system. When utilizing exercise as a therapeutic intervention, rehab providers are encouraged to pay attention to therapeutic exercise design, dosing and implementation.
Therapeutic exercise design should take in consideration the factors influencing internal and external torque production, functional demands and the kinetic chain. Precision therapeutic exercise dosing provides the most appropriate stimulus throughout the different rehab phases. The correct combination of design and dose allows for biasing the weak link within the kinetic chain, achieving the desired physiological response, restoring the impairment and function.
Therapeutic exercise dosing has been found difficult in the rehab setting and may be a contributing factor to less than desired clinical outcomes. The approach for therapeutic exercise dosing examined in the following study may provide clinicians a tool to address this concern.
This study found moderate inter-rater reliability between therapists in determining the point of muscle fatigue through observation of changes in movement patterns during resisted shoulder internal and external rotation.
More information:
Frank Aerts et al, Inter-rater Reliability of Sustained Aberrant Movement Patterns as a Clinical Assessment of Muscular Fatigue, The Open Orthopaedics Journal (2016). DOI: 10.2174/1874325001610010125
Provided by Bentham Science Publishers