Reducing intersubject variability in motor unit number estimation

Motor unit number estimation (MUNE) attempts to directly assess the number of functioning motor units present in a muscle. It is an important addition to the electrodiagnostic evaluation; however, both intrasubject and inters ubject reliability must be minimized for this technique to be clinically us eful. A number of MUNE techniques have been developed. We propose a change in the way of calculating the MUNE, using the statistical technique describ ed by Daube, and show that this modification reduces intersubject variabili ty and improves test-retest reliability in normal subjects. (C) 1999 John W iley & Sons, Inc.