Attempt to Make the Upper-Limb Item of Objective Fugl–Meyer Assessment Using 9-Axis Motion Sensors

Abstract

The Fugl–Meyer Assessment (FMA) has been used as a functional assessment of upper-limb function in stroke patients. This study aimed to create a more objective and standardized evaluation based on an FMA of the upper-limb items. A total of 30 first-ever stroke patients (65.3 ± 10.3 years old) and 15 healthy participants (35.4 ± 13.4 years old) admitted to Itami Kousei Neurosurgical Hospital were included. A nine-axis motion sensor was attached to the participants, and the joint angles of 17 upper-limb items (excluding fingers) and 23 FMA upper-limb items (excluding reflexes and fingers) were measured. From the measurement results, we analyzed the time-series data of each movement and obtained the correlation between the joint angles of each part. Discriminant analysis showed that 17 and 6 items had a concordance rate of ≥80% (80.0~95.6%) and <80% (64.4~75.6%), respectively. In the multiple regression analysis of continuous variables of FMA, a good regression model was obtained to predict the FMA with three to five joint angles. The discriminant analysis for 17 evaluation items suggests the possibility of roughly calculating FMA scores from joint angles.