| Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in results (strong/facilitated vs weak/functionally inhibited) between short (1 second) and long (3 seconds) manual muscle tests (MMTs) on the same subject and to pilot the use of thin-film force transducers for characterizing the parameters of MMT and for measuring maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Method: Forty-four healthy chiropractic students were tested. A thin-film force transducer recorded force over time during MVIC of the middle deltoid and 1- and 3-second MMTs of the same subjects. The MMTs were graded as strong (able to resist the testing pressure) or weak (unable to resist testing pressure, breaking away). Results: Forty-two short tests were strong, and 2 were weak. Thirty-nine long tests were strong, and 5 were weak. ê (0.54) showed fair agreement for results between short and long tests. Peak force in both short and long weak tests was higher than that in strong tests when expressed as a proportion of maximum contraction. All manual tests used less force than MVICs. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that a study of this nature is feasible. Longer test durations demonstrate some muscle weaknesses that are not evident on 1-second MMTs. Thin-film transducers show promise for recording MMT parameters for research purposes. This abstract is reproduced with the permission of the publisher; full text by subscription.
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