Deans' stroke musings: Near-infrared Spectroscopy–mediated Neurofeedback Enhances Efficacy of Motor Imagery

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Near-infrared Spectroscopy–mediated Neurofeedback Enhances Efficacy of Motor Imagery–based Training in Poststroke Victims

I don't understand but I'm sure your doctor can put this into a stroke protocol. Keep repeating, 'I believe', 'I believe', 'I believe'.
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/02/12/STROKEAHA.111.674507.short

Abstract

Background and Purpose—Despite the findings that motor imagery and execution are supposed to share common neural networks, previous studies using imagery-based rehabilitation have revealed inconsistent results. In the present study, we investigated whether feedback of cortical activities (neurofeedback) using near-infrared spectroscopy could enhance the efficacy of imagery-based rehabilitation in stroke patients.

Methods—Twenty hemiplegic patients with subcortical stroke received 6 sessions of mental practice with motor imagery of the distal upper limb in addition to standard rehabilitation. Subjects were randomly allocated to REAL and SHAM groups. In the REAL group, cortical hemoglobin signals detected by near-infrared spectroscopy were fed back during imagery. In the SHAM group, irrelevant randomized signals were fed back. Upper limb function was assessed using the finger and arm subscales of the Fugl-Meyer assessment and the Action Research Arm Test.

Results—The hand/finger subscale of the Fugl-Meyer assessment showed greater functional gain in the REAL group, with a significant interaction between time and group (F_2,36=15.5; P&lt0.001). A significant effect of neurofeedback was revealed even in severely impaired subjects. Imagery-related cortical activation in the premotor area was significantly greater in the REAL group than in the SHAM group (T₅₈=2.4; P&lt0.05).

Conclusions—Our results suggest that near-infrared spectroscopy–mediated neurofeedback may enhance the efficacy of mental practice with motor imagery and augment motor recovery in poststroke patients with severe hemiparesis.