The Modified Ashworth scale (MAS) measures resistance during passive soft-tissue

stretching Stretching is a form of physical exercise in which a specific muscle or tendon (or muscle group) is deliberately flexed or stretched in order to improve the muscle's felt elasticity and achieve comfortable muscle tone. The result is a feelin ...

and is used as a simple measure of

spasticity Spasticity () is a feature of altered skeletal muscle performance with a combination of paralysis, increased tendon reflex activity, and hypertonia. It is also colloquially referred to as an unusual "tightness", stiffness, or "pull" of muscles ...

. Scoring (taken from Bohannon and Smith, 1987): * 0: No increase in

muscle tone In physiology, medicine, and anatomy, muscle tone (residual muscle tension or tonus) is the continuous and passive partial contraction of the muscles, or the muscle's resistance to passive stretch during resting state.O’Sullivan, S. B. (2007). ...

* 1: Slight increase in muscle tone, manifested by a catch and release or by minimal resistance at the end of the range of motion when the affected part(s) is moved in flexion or extension * 1+: Slight increase in muscle tone, manifested by a catch, followed by minimal resistance throughout the remainder (less than half) of the

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

* 2: More marked increase in muscle tone through most of the ROM, but affected part(s) easily moved * 3: Considerable increase in muscle tone, passive movement difficult * 4: Affected part(s) rigid in flexion or extension

References

::2 Bohannon RW and Smith MB; 1987:Physical Therapy, 67(2), 206–207 Cerebral palsy and other paralytic syndromes Neurology Medical assessment and evaluation instruments {{disability-stub