[Status of muscle tone in rheumatoid arthritis patients]

Muscle tonus in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was collated with the activity of the pathological process and functional articular insufficiency (FAI) in different variants of polyneuropathy (P). Hetero- or unidirectional hypotension of muscles was the most characteristic sign in RA. In cases of the sensory variant of P, patients with an early period of the disease and 1-0 degree FAI showed severe damage to the central motor neuron, linked with a dissociated type of muscular dystonia (predominantly hypotension of the flexory group of legs) and a peculiar dystonic phenomenon (a vestibular-cerebellar positioning of the wrist). This kind of wrist positioning was directly correlated with the side of the predominant damage to the central motor neuron. In cases of sensory-motor forms of P, patients with degree II-III FAI, in whom lesions to the peripheral motor neuron were predominant, developed unidirectional muscle hypotension. EMG findings served as an adequate reflection of the nature of changes in the muscle tonus.