Ashworth Scale

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Ashworth Scale /Modified Ashworth Scale

Author of Tool:

Richard Bohannon PT, PhD and Melissa Smith, PT

Primary use / Purpose:

At its initial stages, the Ashworth Scale was designed to examine the effects of antispasticity drugs on spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The purpose of the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) was to measure spasticity in patients with lesions of the central nervous system.

Ashworth Scale
Ashworth Scale

Background:

In the original Ashworth Scale, resistance to passive movement about a joint with varying degrees of velocity is measured on a scale of 0 (no resistance) to 4 (rigidity). In the modified Ashworth Scale, a 1+ scoring category is added to indicate resistance through less than half of the movement (Bohannon & Smith, 1987).

Psychometrics:

Psychometric evaluation of the MAS has discussed in Blackburn et al. (2002) and Gregson et al. (1999; 2000). 82(1): 25.

Reference

  • Bohannon, R. and Smith, M. (1987). “Inter rater reliability of a modified Ashworth scale of muscle spasticity.” Physical Therapy 67(2): 206.
  • Brashear, A., Zafonte, R., et al. (2002). “Inter-and intrarater reliability of the Ashworth Scale and the Disability Assessment Scale in patients with upper-limb poststroke spasticity* 1.” Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation 83(10): 1349-1354.
  • Gregson, J., Leathley, M., et al. (1999). “Reliability of the Tone Assessment Scale and the modified Ashworth scale as clinical tools for assessing poststroke spasticity.” Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation 80(9): 1013-1016. Find it on PubMed
  • Gregson, J., Leathley, M., et al. (2000). “Reliability of measurement of muscle tone and muscle power in stroke patients.” Age and Ageing 29(3): 223.
  • Haas, B., Bergström, E., et al. (1996). “The inter rater reliability of the original and of the modified Ashworth scale for the assessment of spasticity in patients with spinal cord injury.” Spinal Cord 34(9): 560-564.

Important Link

Scale File:

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