FAMOUS: A Quantitative Assessment of Muscle Tone in the Wrist

C03434: Quantitative Muscle Tone Assessment Device

Novelty:

A new apparatus to consistently measure tone of skeletal muscles without subjective biases.

Value Proposition:

Tone is a clinical term that describes muscle resistance to passive stretch. Clinical assessment of tone is useful in evaluating patients with some sort of upper or lower motor neuron paralysis that affects skeletal muscles such as patients with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, or Parkinson’s Disease patients. This is because muscle tone is determined not only by its passive properties such as size, but it is heavily influenced by nerve activation in patients with certain neurological disorders. As a result, tone is important for a clinician to decide on the nature and degree of intervention to administer. Current methods to assess tone of tone, such as the Ashworth scale, are qualitative and are based on the ‘touch and feel’ response that a clinician feels. However, these methods are highly subjective and tend to vary greatly. This technology provides a method to quantify a patient’s tone in a consistent, non-invasive manner. Other advantages include:

Technical Details:

Johns Hopkins researchers have developed an automated tone assessment device that properly quantifies tone of the flexor/extensor muscle groups. This is done by using a robot that perturbs the wrist joint, for example, with a smooth but random trajectory or movement. By measuring the torque response to this movement, we can isolate the muscle tone using a visco-elastic model. The resulting muscle stiffness value for the patient is then output to the clinician in real time.

Looking for Partners:

To develop and commercialize the technology as an assessment tool in the Physical Therapy and Neurosurgery markets.

Stage of Development:

Prototype

Data Availability:

Under CDA / NDA

Publications/Associated Cases:

PM&R. November 2011; Vol. 3, Issue 11: Pages 1075-1076.