title: [Isokinetic assessment of ankles in patients with rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The foot and ankle in rheumatoid arthritis undergo highly destructive synovitis with loss of muscle strength.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the muscle strength of ankles in patients with rheumatoid arthritis based on isokinetic dynamometry parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty patients with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis involving the ankle(s) and 30 healthy subjects (control group) matched for age, gender, race, body mass index and lower limb dominance were studied. Dorsiflexion, plantarflexion, inversion and eversion were evaluated in all subjects on an isokinetic Cybex Norm dynamometer. The variables were compared between the rheumatoid arthritis and control groups and between the right and left ankles, and the dorsiflexor/plantar flexor and invertor/evertor muscle strength ratio was determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with rheumatoid arthritis performed statistically worse in the isokinetic dynamometry test for all ankle movements. The muscle strength ratio between dorsiflexors and plantar flexors was different in the two groups. No significant differences were observed in the invertor and evertor ratios. In the two groups the plantar flexor musculature was statistically stronger than dorsiflexors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that patients with rheumatoid arthritis perform worse in isokinetic dynamometry regarding all ankle movements than control subjects, with similar isokinetic test results being observed for the right and left side in both groups, with few exceptions. Isokinetic evaluation posed no additional risk such as important pain or inflammatory activity to patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Reumatologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Silvia Cristina Gutierrez
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Reumatologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Leda Magalhaes
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Reumatologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: Anamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Reumatologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Electronic address: jnatour@unifesp.br.
authors.forename: Jamil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Natour
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000842:Ankle / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053580:Muscle Strength; D053581:Muscle Strength Dynamometer; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ankle; Artrite reumatoide; Avaliação isocinética; Isokinetic assessment; Peak torque; Pico de torque; Rheumatoid arthritis; Tornozelo