Rebecca Lewis, Sameera Abas, Catriona Heaver, Simon Hill, Simon Pickard
{"title":"Spasticity: principles of orthopaedic management of upper and lower limb spasticity secondary to stroke","authors":"Rebecca Lewis, Sameera Abas, Catriona Heaver, Simon Hill, Simon Pickard","doi":"10.1016/j.mporth.2026.05.009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stroke (cerebrovascular accident) is an extremely common disease with an estimated incidence of 100,000 per year in the UK. Up to 30% of patients will develop spasticity following stroke, the sequelae of which can have a significant impact on patients' abilities to carry out activities of daily living (ADLs), leading to a significant reduction in function and independence levels. Abnormal limb posture as a consequence of an upper motor neurone lesion affects patients' ability to ambulate and carry out simple hygiene; increases the risk of pressure sores, and can have a lasting impact on patients’ self-perception and image. In the upper limb there are multiple patterns of deformity whereas in the lower limb the predominant pattern is an equinovarus position of the foot and ankle. This article summarizes the principles of orthopaedic assessment and treatment for both upper and lower limb spasticity in stroke patients with a review of contemporary orthopaedic literature. Many of the principles described are also relevant to spasticity secondary to other upper motor neurone pathologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":39547,"journal":{"name":"Orthopaedics and Trauma","volume":"40 4","pages":"Pages 242-250"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Orthopaedics and Trauma","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877132726000606","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/7/9 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"Medicine","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Stroke (cerebrovascular accident) is an extremely common disease with an estimated incidence of 100,000 per year in the UK. Up to 30% of patients will develop spasticity following stroke, the sequelae of which can have a significant impact on patients' abilities to carry out activities of daily living (ADLs), leading to a significant reduction in function and independence levels. Abnormal limb posture as a consequence of an upper motor neurone lesion affects patients' ability to ambulate and carry out simple hygiene; increases the risk of pressure sores, and can have a lasting impact on patients’ self-perception and image. In the upper limb there are multiple patterns of deformity whereas in the lower limb the predominant pattern is an equinovarus position of the foot and ankle. This article summarizes the principles of orthopaedic assessment and treatment for both upper and lower limb spasticity in stroke patients with a review of contemporary orthopaedic literature. Many of the principles described are also relevant to spasticity secondary to other upper motor neurone pathologies.
期刊介绍:
Orthopaedics and Trauma presents a unique collection of International review articles summarizing the current state of knowledge and research in orthopaedics. Each issue focuses on a specific topic, discussed in depth in a mini-symposium; other articles cover the areas of basic science, medicine, children/adults, trauma, imaging and historical review. There is also an annotation, self-assessment questions and a second opinion section. In this way the entire postgraduate syllabus will be covered in a 4-year cycle.