Neurological Recovery of Upper Extremity in Stroke Woman after 5 Years: A Case Report.

I could easily explain this.You look at the brain scans and see if the motor control for the upper arm is still alive. What probably happened is that the white matter underlying that area was dead/damaged thus making the upper arm non-functional. Through axon sprouting and dendrite branching neurons finally connected up that motor control area again. I had a similar occurrence in that my left toes were not functional. Looking at my brain scans there was no damage to toe control areas but I assume that the white matter was damaged connecting that up. After three years with no effort on my part I could wiggle my toes again.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27266238

Vejabhuti C.

Abstract

Strokes are common neurological disorders in Thailand. Rehabilitation programs significantly improve arm function outcomes if performed during the sub-acute period of stroke rehabilitation, within 6 months of the attack. This report describes the case of a stroke patient who gained upper extremity motor recovery after 5 years, which is beyond the normal recovery period. Although the patient does not have functionality, she has partial motor recovery, and she is enthusiastic about learning to gain better use of her hand. However there is still limited evidence to use in designing effective intervention and proper timing of rehabilitation administered by personnel in training chronic stroke patients. Therefore, evidence based on neuroplasticity and neurological recovery in chronic stroke patients, including rehabilitation intervention, is presented in this report.

PMID:

27266238

[PubMed - in process]

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