Spasticity: Mechanisms and Management

The book is based on an international meeting held in Essen, Germany, in November 1992 and is a comprehensive treatise that examines the pathophysiological disturbances that occur in patients with spasticity. The meeting and the subsequent book are unique in having drawn together basic scientists, clinical scientists and clinicians to consider the movement disturbance and reflex abnormalities of the spastic patient. Each chapter is authored by an international authority on that topic, and the chapters are grouped in sections with a summary of discussions on those chapters. The discussion summaries thus identify growing areas andcontentious issues, thereby amplifying the content of the individual chapters.

Over the past 10-20 years there has been an explosion of work on the disturbance of motor control that is manifested as spasticity. This work has been based on new insights from animal experiments into the basis of normal motor control and the development of experimental techniques that could be used in patients with neurological disturbances. For this reason, on the initiative of Alfred Thilmann, the editors of this volume organized a workshop on spasticity, held in Essen, Germany, in November, 1992. The intention of the meeting was to bring together leading scientists in an atmosphere that would generate discussion and hopefully consensus and ideas for future work. The attendance was restricted and deliberately selective, with a mix of basic scientists, clinical scientists and practicing clinicians. The product of their presentations and deliberations is this volume. The book is organized in the same sequence as the workshop, so that the discussion sessions could be summarized by the appropriate chairman.