A ‘muscle condition score’ is an assessment of a patient's muscle mass and it is important in an overall health assessment because a low MCS is caused by muscle loss due to disease (cachexia) or aging (sarcopenia), both of which require further investigation.  As a body condition score assesses only fat mass, a patient can have a normal BCS or even be overweight, yet still have muscle loss.

For this reason, our Global Nutrition Committee recommends muscle condition scoring as part of the nutritional assessment performed on every patient at every visit. The nutritional assessment includes body weight, body condition score, muscle condition score and diet history.
 

Check out the new video from Dr Lisa Freeman from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Advisor to the Global Nutrition Committee, on how to perform a muscle condition score.

Read more about this topic on Lisa Freeman’s blog.