http://nnr.sagepub.com/content/27/7/602.abstract
- 1Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO, USA
- 2Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO, USA
- Sydney Y. Schaefer, PhD, Program in Physical Therapy, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8502, St Louis, MO 63108, USA. Email: syschaefer@gmail.com
Abstract
Background. Although task-specific
training is emerging as a viable approach for recovering motor function
after stroke, there is little
evidence for whether the effects of such training
transfer to other functional motor tasks not directly practiced in
therapy.
Objective. The purpose of the current study was to test whether training on one motor task in individuals with chronic hemiparesis
poststroke would transfer to untrained tasks that were either spatiotemporally similar or different. Methods.
In all, 11 participants with chronic mild to moderate hemiparesis
following stroke completed 5 days of supervised massed
practice of a feeding task with their affected
side. Performance on the feeding task, along with 2 other untrained
functional
upper-extremity motor tasks (sorting, dressing) was
assessed before and after training. Results. Performance of
all 3 tasks improved significantly after training exclusively on 1 motor
task. The amount of improvement
in the untrained tasks was comparable and was not
dependent on the degree of similarity to the trained task. Conclusions. Because the number and type of tasks that can be practiced are often limited within standard stroke rehabilitation, results
from this study will be useful for designing task-specific training plans to maximize therapy benefits.
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