New Queen's study of hand-brain function offers insight into recovery for stroke...( KINGSTON Ont. - A Queen's study of str...),Health

Further, there are different post-stroke patient "profiles" instead of a single common profile for recovery of hand muscle control, according to findings published in the most recent edition of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This new discovery paves the way for more effective treatment for stroke survivors based on timing the treatment to the individual's recovery process.

"It is surprising how little is known about the process of physical recovery after stroke," says Brenda Brouwer, the lead researcher and a Rehabilitation Therapy professor. "This is the most comprehensive study we're aware of to date that looks at brain to muscle control outcomes and detailed hand function in stroke patients."

The study found that hand function is directly related to brain activity and that changes in the brain well after the stroke are paralleled by changes in physical ability. The less active the motor cortex -- the part of the brain controlling muscle function -- and the weaker the connections, the less able the stroke survivor is to use their hand muscles.

The findings offer insight into which of the measures currently used to evaluate signals from the brain to the muscle during stroke recovery are most strongly linked to muscle function and therefore which treatment strategies work best for particular patients at early and later stages of recovery.

Interventions including muscle vibration and electrical nerve stimulation in the limbs enhance the motor cortical output to target muscles; mental practice (patient's concentrating on moving the muscle) results in brain cells being more easily activated. With time, the cells in that part of the brain affected by
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Contact: Lorinda Peterson
lorinda.peterson@queensu.ca
613-533-3234
Queen's University
16-May-2006