Background: Walking assessment (WA) enables meaningful patient mobility assessment. In this context, patient satisfaction with WA can influence assessment compliance and indirectly affect outcomes. One opportunity to assess patient satisfaction is patient-reported and expert-reported experience measures (PREM). Research on PREMs and WA in daily clinical multiple sclerosis (MS) practice does not exist yet. Methods: We surveyed people with MS about their experience and assessed healthcare professionals’ experience via an interview after patients completed WA. Results: Gait parameters were related to perceived difficulty and strain during performance. Less impaired patients perceived the WA to be less difficult and exhausting but were less likely to use WA results for themselves. Men and patients with higher impairment would perform WA more frequently. A good workflow, a fully performed WA with standardized testing, fully functional measurement systems, support and safeguarding by staff in case of falls, direct feedback after the testing, and patients’ motivation are identified by the experts as necessary factors for a successful WA. Conclusions: As patients’ experience has an impact on patients’ outcomes, long-term monitoring of PREMs should become an integral part of the healthcare service to identify and avoid problems early.

Gait disorders are among the most disabling symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), substantially affecting quality of life, autonomy, and participation. The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) captures impairments -particularly pyramidal, cerebellar and sensory- that influence gait patterns. Quantitative gait analysis enables objective exploration of these patterns supporting personalised strategies. This study aimed to characterise gait profiles in pwMS based on EDSS-derived functional scores. In this cross-sectional study at University Hospital Dresden, 204 pwMS and 237 healthy controls underwent instrumented gait assessments under self-selected, fast, and dual-task conditions. PwMS were categorised into pyramidal, cerebellar, or sensory gait pattern groups based on EDSS functional system scores. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were analysed using generalised linear models adjusted for age, gender, and body mass index. Sensory gait patterns were observed in 57.8% of pwMS, pyramidal in 27.9%, and cerebellar in 14.2%. Significant group differences emerged across all walking conditions. Ataxic gait showed reduced speed and increased step and stride variability. Sensory patterns featured higher speed, longer steps, and increased cadence. Pyramidal patterns resembled ataxic ones but differed under fast walking. EDSS-based functional deficits correspond to distinct MS-specific gait profiles. Multidimensional clinical gait phenotyping provides actionable insights for tailoring rehabilitation and monitoring mobility outcomes in pwMS.

(1) Background: When implementing new biomechanical and technology-based assessments, such as the jump assessment in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), into clinical routine, it is important to ensure that they are based on the real needs of patients and to identify and adapt to potential barriers early on. (2) Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, 157 pwMS performed a sensor-based jump assessment on a force plate consisting of three jump tests: 10 s jump test (10SHT), countermovement jumps (CMJ), and single-leg countermovement jumps (SLCMJ). After the jump assessment, the patient experience measures (PREM) were recorded using a paper-based questionnaire on an 11-point scale from 0 (positive) to 10 (negative). (3) Results: PwMS showed an overall positive experience with the sensor-based jump assessment. “Staff support performance”, “acceptance required time”, “usefulness” of the results, and “integration of results in therapy” were the best rated items with a median of 0 (positive). The CMJ was perceived as the easy (p < 0.05) and less exhausting (p < 0.05). PwMS who experienced CMJ as easy, not exhausting, and safe were associated with higher CMJ performance, especially in peak power, flight time, and jump height (r > −0.4). Significant associations were found between PREMs and age, sex, BMI, physical activity, and disability degree. (4) Conclusions: The study findings support the feasibility of jump assessment in clinical practice and highlight the need for patient-centered integration of innovative technologies to optimize precision neuromuscular function evaluation in MS.

One of the core problems for people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) is the impairment of their ability to walk, which can be severely restrictive in everyday life. Therefore, monitoring of ambulatory function is of great importance to be able to effectively counteract disease progression. An extensive gait analysis, such as the Dresden protocol for multidimensional walking assessment, covers several facets of walking impairment including a 2-min walk test, in which the distance taken by the patient in two minutes is measured by an odometer. Using this approach, it is questionable how precise the measuring methods are at recording the distance traveled. In this project, we investigate whether the current measurement can be replaced by a digital measurement method based on accelerometers (six Opal sensors from the Mobility Lab system) that are attached to the patient’s body. We developed two algorithms using these data and compared the validity of these approaches using the results from 2-min walk tests from 562 pwMS that were collected with a gold-standard odometer. In 48.4% of pwMS, we detected an average relative measurement error of less than 5%, while results from 25.8% of the pwMS showed a relative measurement error of up to 10%. The algorithm had difficulties correctly calculating the walking distances in another 25.8% of pwMS; these results showed a measurement error of more than 20%. A main reason for this moderate performance was the variety of pathologically altered gait patterns in pwMS that may complicate the step detection. Overall, both algorithms achieved favorable levels of agreement (r = 0.884 and r = 0.980) with the odometer. Finally, we present suggestions for improvement of the measurement system to be implemented in the future.

In the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS), there are currently no sensitive assessments to evaluate complex motor functions. The countermovement jump (CMJ), a high-challenge task in form of a maximal vertical bipedal jump, has already been investigated as a reliable assessment in healthy subjects for lower extremity motor function. The aim was to investigate whether it is possible to use CMJ to identify subthreshold motor deficits in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). All participants (99 pwMS and 33 healthy controls) performed three maximal CMJs on a force plate. PwMS with full motor function and healthy controls (HC) did not differ significantly in age, disease duration, Body Mass Index and the Expanded Disability Scale Score. In comparison to HC, pwMS with full motor function demonstrated a significantly decreased CMJ performance in almost all observed kinetic, temporal and performance parameters (p < 0.05). With increasing disability in pwMS, it was also observed that jump performance decreased significantly. This study showed that the CMJ, as a high challenge task, could detect motor deficits in pwMS below the clinical threshold of careful neurological examination. Longitudinal studies are pending to evaluate whether the CMJ can be used as a standardized measure of disease progression.

(1) Background: The countermovement jump (CMJ) on a force plate could be a sensitive assessment for detecting early lower-limb muscle mechanical deficits in the early stages of multiple sclerosis (MS). CMJ performance is known to be influenced by various anthropometric, physiological, and biomechanical factors, mostly investigated in children and adult athletes. Our aim was to investigate the association of age, sex, and BMI with muscle mechanical function using CMJ to provide a comprehensive overview of lower-limb motor function in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with pwMS (N = 164) and healthy controls (N = 98). All participants performed three maximal CMJs on a force plate. Age, sex, and BMI were collected from all participants. (3) Results: Significant age, sex, and BMI effects were found for all performance parameters, flight time, and negative and positive power for pwMS and HC, but no significant interaction effects with the group (pwMS, HC) were detected. The highest significant effects were found for sex on flight time (η² = 0.23), jump height (η² = 0.23), and positive power (η² = 0.13). PwMS showed significantly lower CMJ performance compared to HC in middle-aged (31–49 years), with normal weight to overweight and in both women and men. (4) Conclusions: This study showed that age, sex, and BMI are associated with muscle mechanical function in pwMS and HC. These results may be useful in developing reference values for CMJ. This is a crucial step in integrating CMJ into the diagnostic assessment of people with early MS and developing individualized and effective neurorehabilitative therapy.