Spasticity: its physiology and management. Part III. Identifying and assessing the mechanisms underlying spasticity

Patients with spasticity may have similar motor signs and yet have completely different underlying neural mechanisms. This paper reviews some experimental tests which have been developed to detect and analyze excitatory excesses and inhibitory deficits giving rise to the abnormal motor signs of spasticity. Although at the present time these tests may not lend themselves to routine clinical application, their results are creating a body of knowledge which will become the foundation for diagnosis and treatment of spasticity in the future.