Project R-11164

Joke Raats: Testing trunk, shoulder and upper limb in patients with neurological disorders. Reliability, validity and interrelatedness. (Research)

Background: Patients with MS or a stroke report sensomotor problems caused by their disease. Recent movement analysis studies have shown that patients with paresis use excessive trunk and shoulder girdle displacement when reaching and grasping to objects. However evidence is scare concerning the interplay between trunk, shoulder and upper limb concerning the reaching movement. Therefore this study aims to investigate the interaction between trunk, scapula and upper limb impairments in PwMS and stroke patients. Method: A cross-sectional case-controlled observational study. 80 PwMS and 80 stroke participants are evaluated, while performing isolated trunk, shoulder and upper limb task and combined tasks like reaching. Results: By structural equitation modelling the direct and indirect effect is investigated between the trunk, shoulder and upper limb variables. Like also the effect of these three on the reaching performance. Discussion and conclusion: This study aims to investigate the effect of the trunk, shoulder and upper limb on reaching performance and to define the most determining factors.

01 July 2021 - 30 September 2021