@inproceedings{TaylorFroehlichButtgereitetal.2012, author = {Taylor, William R. and Fr{\"o}hlich, Annika and Buttgereit, Frank and Ehrig, Rainald and Witaschek, Tom and Duda, Georg}, title = {Metacarpophalangeal joint stiffness is reduced in patients affected by rheumatoid arthritis after glucocorticoid medication}, series = {Proceedings of the ESM-2012, Aalborg}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the ESM-2012, Aalborg}, editor = {Kersting, Uwe and Morlock, Michael and Jirova-Enzmann, Daniela and Dremstrup, Kim}, publisher = {Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University}, pages = {39}, year = {2012}, language = {en} } @article{BoethBiesenHollnageletal.2021, author = {Boeth, Heide and Biesen, Robert and Hollnagel, Jeremias and Herrmann, Sandra and Ehrig, Rainald and Pelli, Lorenzo and Taylor, William R. and Duda, Georg and Buttgereit, Frank}, title = {Quantification of morning stiffness to assess disease activity and treatment effects in rheumatoid arthritis}, series = {Rheumatology}, volume = {60}, journal = {Rheumatology}, number = {11}, doi = {10.1093/rheumatology/keab323}, pages = {5282 -- 5291}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Objectives The clinical parameter "morning stiffness" is widely used to assess the status of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but its accurate quantitative assessment in a clinical setting has not yet been successful. This lack of individual quantification limits both personalized medication and efficacy evaluation in the treatment of RA. Methods We have developed a novel technology to assess passive resistance of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) III joint (stiffness) and its Passive Range of Motion (PRoM). Within this pilot study, nineteen female postmenopausal RA patients and nine healthy controls were examined in the evening as well as in the morning of the following day. To verify the specificity of the biomechanical quantification, eleven patients with RA were assessed both prior to and ∼3 h after glucocorticoid therapy. Results While the healthy controls showed only minor changes between afternoon and morning, in RA patients mean±SD PRoM decreased significantly by 18 ± 22\% and stiffness increased significantly by 20 ± 18\% in the morning compared with the previous afternoon. We found a significant positive correlation between RA activity and biomechanical measures. Glucocorticoids significantly increased mean PRoM by 16 ± 11\% and reduced mean stiffness by 23 ± 22\%. Conclusion This technology allowed mechanical stiffness to be quantified in MCP joints, and has demonstrated high sensitivity in respect to disease status as well as medication effect in RA patients. Such non-invasive, low risk, and rapid assessment of biomechanical joint stiffness opens a novel avenue for judging therapy efficacy in patients with RA, and potentially also in other non-RA inflammatory joint diseases.}, language = {en} } @article{BoethDudaHinzmannetal., author = {Boeth, Heide and Duda, Georg and Hinzmann, Daniel and Hermann, Sandra and Taylor, William R. and Ehrig, Rainald and Witaschek, Tom and Buttgereit, Frank}, title = {A Novel Approach to Quantify Morning Stiffness in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis}, series = {Annual European Congress of Rheumatology, EULAR 2015, Rome}, journal = {Annual European Congress of Rheumatology, EULAR 2015, Rome}, language = {en} }