---
title: Distinguish reflexive tightness from stiffness
nct_id: NCT06596187
phase: NA
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: Chang Gung University
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06596187"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06596187"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:05:03.616Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Distinguish reflexive tightness from stiffness

**Goal (in five words):** Distinguish reflexive tightness from stiffness

**Official Title:** Differential Assessment of Hypertonia Related to CNS Impairment

**Trial ID:** [NCT06596187](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06596187)

## Key Facts

- **Phase:** NA
- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Sponsor:** Chang Gung University
- **Target Enrollment:** 45 participants
- **Start Date:** 2024-10-09
- **Completion Date:** 2026-08
- **Conditions:** SCI - Spinal Cord Injury, PD - Parkinson's Disease
- **Interventions:** Continuous passive motion device (CPM) of ankle - fast, Continuous passive motion device (CPM) of ankle - slow
- **Intervention Types:** PROCEDURE

## Summary For Families

The goal is to tell apart different kinds of increased muscle tone from central nervous system problems, comparing people with chronic spinal cord injury to those with Parkinson's disease so clinicians can better recognize reflexive spasticity versus Parkinsonian stiffness. The approach uses a continuous passive motion device to move the ankle at slow and fast speeds, watching how muscles and reflexes respond to passive stretch, so faster stretches will highlight velocity-dependent reflex spasticity while slower movement reveals more constant rigidity; this is a device-based assessment rather than a drug treatment. Adults 20 and older with a clinical diagnosis of Parkinson's disease or with chronic spinal cord injury longer than one year can join, but people with leg musculoskeletal injuries or osteoporosis are excluded, and the SCI group also excludes pacemakers, current antispastic or antidepressant use, venous thromboembolism, or impaired soleus H-reflex function.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 20 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Health subjects:

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Musculoskeletal injuries on legs.
2. Osteoporosis.

SCI subjects:

Inclusion Criteria 1. Participants with chronic spinal cord injury, with injury duration greater than one year.

Exclusion Criteria

1. Current musculoskeletal or joint injuries in the lower limbs.
2. History of central or peripheral neuromuscular diseases.
3. Presence of a pacemaker.
4. Current use of antispastic or antidepressant medications.
5. Current venous thromboembolism or osteoporosis.
6. Impairment of the soleus H-reflex arc.

PD subjects:

Inclusion Criteria:

\- Clinical diagnosis of Parkinson disease.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Musculoskeletal injuries on legs
2. Osteoporosis.
3. Any peripheral or central nervous system injury or disease patients.
```

## Locations (1)

- Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan _(24.9937, 121.2970)_
  - Ya-Ju Chang, PhD — (CONTACT) — 88632118800 — yjchang@mail.cgu.edu.tw

## Central Contacts

- Ya-Ju Chang, PhD — (CONTACT) — +88632118800 — yjchang@mail.cgu.edu.tw

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06596187*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT06596187*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06596187*