title: Isokinetic Evaluation of Knee Extensor/Flexor Muscle Strength in Behcet's Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Behçet's disease (BD) is an idiopathic, multisystemic, progressive disease. The purpose of this study is to compare the knee flexor and extensor isokinetic muscle strengths of Behcet's patients with that of healthy subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five (13 male and 12 female) patients with BD and 25 (15 male and 10 female) healthy individuals were included in the study. Velocities of 90°/sec, 120°/sec, and 150°/sec were used for the isokinetic muscle strength testing. Patients with active inflammatory knee arthritis were excluded. Peak torque (Nm) and peak torque adjusted to body weight (%) were taken into consideration for comparison between study groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to healthy controls, there was a statistically significant decrease in both the bilateral knee extensor and flexor muscle isokinetic peak torques(Nm) as well as the peak torques adjusted to body weight (%) at velocities of 90°/sec, 120°/sec and 150°/sec in patients with BD (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in the agonist-antagonist ratio of the isokinetic peak torques of knee muscles between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In light of these findings, we have concluded that both knee flexor and extensor isokinetic muscle strengths are lower in BD. We therefore recommend careful monitoring of patients with BD in terms of muscle strength.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Durmus
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emre
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Karincaoglu
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dogan
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Baysal
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ersoy
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Altay
mesh_terms: D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019415:Torque