Testing & Diagnosis
Clinical assessment typically includes:
The doctor will make a full analysis of:
Posture and movement control. They’ll check whether you lean to one side, hunch over, or favor a certain position.
To measure this, your doctor will ask you to push or pull against resistance, walk on your heels or tiptoes, or rise from a chair.
Your doctor may ask you to walk normally and in a straight line, placing one foot in front of the other, or touch your finger to the doctor’s finger and then your own nose, and repeat the movement quickly.
Doctors test reflexes to determine whether all parts of this pathway are working, the reflexes they test most commonly are the knee jerk and reflexes of the elbow and the ankle.
Your doctor may ask you questions like:
- When did you first notice the spasticity?
- How severe is it?
- Do you notice it all the time?
- Are there things that make it better or worse?
- Do you have other symptoms?
- Which muscles does it affect?
Other diagnostic tests
- In some cases, an electromyography may be used to determine specific nerve conduction velocities, which can guide diagnosis.
- Diagnostic imaging techniques may be used to see changes to the head, neck and spine and identify possible causes for muscular symptoms. The involvement of a multidisciplinary healthcare team may be required in the diagnostic process and treatment of spasticity.
Medical experts that diagnose and treat spasticity
People with spasticity will likely see a team of doctors that may include the following experts:
- Neurologist.
- Rehabilitation specialist.
- Physical therapist
- Physical therapist.
- Occupational therapist.
- Speech-language pathologist.
- Neurosurgeon Orthopedic surgeon.
