Upper Limb Coordination in Individuals With Stroke: Poorly Defined and Poorly Quantified

Abstract

Background: The identification of deficits in interjoint coordination is important in order to better focus upper limb rehabilitative treatment after stroke. The majority of standardized clinical measures characterize endpoint performance, such as accuracy, speed, and smoothness, based on the assumption that endpoint performance reflects interjoint coordination, without measuring the underlying temporal and spatial sequences of joint recruitment directly. However, this assumption is questioned since improvements of endpoint performance can be achieved through different degrees of restitution or compensation of upper limb motor impairments based on the available kinematic redundancy of the system. Confusion about adequate measurement may stem from a lack a definition of interjoint coordination during reaching.

Methods and results: We suggest an operational definition of interjoint coordination during reaching as a goal-oriented process in which joint degrees of freedom are organized in both spatial and temporal domains such that the endpoint reaches a desired location in a context-dependent manner.

Conclusions: In this point-of-view article, we consider how current approaches to laboratory and clinical measures of coordination comply with our definition. We propose future study directions and specific research strategies to develop clinical measures of interjoint coordination with better construct and content validity than those currently in use.

Keywords: interjoint coordination; kinematics; measurement; rehabilitation; upper limb.