Clinical Motor Coordination Tests in Adult Neurology: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Science
• Clinical Assessment

Background:

• Motor coordination is crucial for functional performance in neurological populations.
• Existing clinical tests for motor coordination vary in their metrics and measurement properties.
• A comprehensive understanding of current assessment tools is needed to guide clinical practice and research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review identifying clinical tests for upper limb, lower limb, and trunk motor coordination in adults with neurological conditions.
• To evaluate the metric and measurement properties of these identified tests.
• To highlight gaps in current assessments regarding functional task performance.

Main Methods:

• Searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for relevant studies using keywords like 'motor coordination' and 'assessment'.
• Included studies assessing spatial and/or temporal coordination in adult neurological populations.
• Independently extracted data on body part, neurological condition, psychometric properties, and scoring metrics by two reviewers.

Main Results:

• Identified 19 distinct tests for motor coordination: 2 for spatial, 7 for temporal, and 10 for both.
• Found that scoring metrics and measurement properties varied across tests.
• A majority of the reviewed tests demonstrated good-to-excellent measurement properties.

Conclusions:

• Current clinical tests for motor coordination in neurological populations have diverse scoring metrics.
• A significant limitation is the lack of direct assessment of functional task performance.
• Development of a test battery focusing on coordination metrics related to functional performance is recommended for clinical practice.