Motor Assessment Scale

Synonyms

MAS

Description

The Motor Assessment Scale (MAS) is a performance-based scale that assesses everyday motor function in patients with stroke (Carr et al. 1985) and other neurological impairments. It is a task-oriented approach to evaluation that assesses performance of functional tasks rather than isolated patterns of movement (Malouin et al. 1994). It evaluates a patient’s ability to move with low muscle tone or in a synergistic or stereotypical upper motor neuron pattern and to move actively out of that pattern into normal movement.

The MAS items include position changes from supine to side lying and to sitting and from sitting to standing, balance, walking, upper arm function, hand movements, affected hand activities, and general tonus. Items in each of these categories can be scored on a 7-point interval scale except the general tonus item. The general tonus score is based on continuous observations throughout the assessment with a score of 4 indicating a consistently...