Voluntary and magnetically evoked muscle contraction protocol in males with Duchenne muscular dystrophy: Safety, feasibility, reliability, and validity.

Introduction/aims: Clinical trials addressing treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) require reliable and valid measurement of muscle contractile function across all disease severity levels. In this work we aimed to evaluate a protocol combining voluntary and evoked contractions to measure strength and excitability of wrist extensor muscles for safety, feasibility, reliability, and discriminant validity between males with DMD and controls.

Methods: Wrist extensor muscle strength and excitability were assessed in males with DMD (N = 10; mean ± standard deviation: 15.