Assessing muscle tone

Assessing muscle tone

Assessing muscle tone effectively is important in helping to treat a whole range of musculoskeletal conditions that can limit quality of life for sufferers. That is why here at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Southampton our researchers from the Rehabilitation and Health Technologies research group have made finding new ways of assessing muscle tone effectively one of their top priorities.

Our overall goal is to establish Myoton technology for assessing muscle tone and to trial it successfully as an accurate and reliable routine clinical tool. The MyotonPRO is a small hand-held device that is placed over the muscle and causes it to oscillate. The device then feeds back data about the muscle's mechanical characteristics, which in turn help in assessing muscle tone.

The main uses would be to detect early signs of stiffness to aid prevention of muscle injuries in sport, and to aid assessment of muscle in musculoskeletal and neurological disorders, and monitor effects of treatment.

In addition, for neurological conditions such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease, Myoton technology offers a potentially powerful tool for measuring muscle tone and stiffness, which could be used to assess the effects of drugs to reduce muscle tone and rigidity.

Our initial research into assessing muscle tone with Myoton technology aims to prevent muscle injuries by using the technology to detect abnormalities that indicate risk of injury before symptoms occur. Where injuries have occurred, the technology would guide treatment and monitor recovery to inform the clinician and patient when it is safe to return to full activity.

Right now a series of research phases is under way, involving: studies of reliability and validity; basic science studies to increase understanding of the physiological relevance of muscle characteristics tested by the device; producing databases of values for different muscles in various healthy and patient populations; and clinical studies to provide evidence that Myoton technology can improve clinical practice.