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This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) CME: Take the course for this article: Volume 61, Number 11, December 09, 2003 Correspondence: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Great Lakes ALS Study Group Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Great Lakes ALS Study Group, Related Collections Clinical neurology examination All Neuromuscular Disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Clinical trials Methodology/study design

A comparison of muscle strength testing techniques in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Eric J. Sorenson, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905; e-mail: Sorenson.eric{at}mayo.edu

Objective: To assess the reliability of strength testing techniques among centers investigating patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Methods: The authors compared test reliability in manual muscle testing (MMT) and maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) scores among institutions and test validity by comparing change over time between MMT and MVIC. The authors examined 63 subjects at 3-month intervals for 12 months. At enrollment and at 6 months, two physical therapists each examined the subjects twice. MMT scores were calculated as modifications of the Medical Research Council scale. MVIC scores were generated as standardized megascores. Intraclass correlation coefficients and coefficients of variation compared reproducibility, and Pearson correlation coefficients compared change over time. The power of each measure to detect disease progression over time was assessed by estimating coefficients of variation for the average change.

Results: Reproducibility between MVIC and MMT was equivalent. Sensitivity to detect progressive weakness and power to detect this change, however, favored MMT, an effect largely accounted for by the number of muscles sampled.

Conclusions: In multicentered trials, uniformly trained physical therapists reproducibly and accurately measure strength by both MMT and MVIC. The authors found MMT to be the preferred measure of global strength because of its better Pearson correlation coefficients, essentially equivalent reproducibility, and more favorable coefficient of variation.

Received December 13, 2001. Accepted in final form August 27, 2003.

See also page 1472

*Members of the Great Lakes ALS Study Group are listed in the Appendix on page 1506.

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