NERVE STIMULATION ENHANCES TASK-ORIENTED TRAINING FOR MODERATE-TO-SEVERE HEMIPARESIS 3-12 MONTHS AFTER STROKE: A RANDOMIZED TRIAL

Don't be lazy and recommend future studies, write up a fucking stroke protocol on what you have. It can be corrected as better research comes in.  Because we have NO stroke leadership we have no followup and we don't get any closer to solving stroke. EVERYTHING IS STROKE IS A FAILURE. Until that is acknowledged nobody will attempt to solve the problems in stroke.  This meme from a couple years ago exemplifies the head in the sand mentality of stroke leadership.

This research is nothing more than an update as explained in a Margaret Yekutiel  book about this in 2001, 'Sensory Re-Education of the Hand After Stroke'. So 17 years and still no stroke protocol on this. God, the extreme incompetence of the stroke medical world is galaxy class. 
https://journals.lww.com/ajpmr/Abstract/publishahead/NERVE_STIMULATION_ENHANCES_TASK_ORIENTED_TRAINING.98486.aspx 

Carrico, Cheryl, MS, OT/L; Westgate, Philip, M., PhD; Powell, Elizabeth, Salmon, MS; Chelette, Kenneth, C., MS; Nichols, Laurie, BS, OT/L; Pettigrew, L., Creed, MD, MPH; Sawaki, Lumy, MD, PhD

American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: May 22, 2018 - Volume Publish Ahead of Print - Issue - p

doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000971

Research Article: PDF Only

• Abstract
• Author Information

Objective: Determine whether somatosensory stimulation affects outcomes of motor training for moderate-to-severe upper extremity hemiparesis less than 12 months post-stroke.

Design 55 adults participated in 18 intervention sessions pairing 2 hours of active (n=33) or sham (n=22) somatosensory stimulation with 4 hours of intensive task-oriented motor training. Wolf Motor Function Test, Action Research Arm Test, Fugl-Meyer Assessment, and Stroke Impact Scale were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 1- and 4-month follow-up.

Results: Statistically significant between-groups differences favored the active condition on Wolf Motor Function Test at post (p=0.04) and Action Research Arm Test at post (p=0.02), 1-month (p=0.01), and 4-month (p=0.01) but favored the sham condition on Stroke Impact Scale at 1-month (p=0.03). There were no significant between-groups differences on Fugl-Meyer Assessment.

Conclusion: Somatosensory stimulation can improve objective outcomes of motor training for moderate-to-severe hemiparesis less than 12 months after stroke, although the magnitude of between-groups differences in this study needs to be determined if they are clinically relevant. Future studies should investigate the intervention’s impact on disability and functional recovery for this population as well as neurophysiological mechanisms underlying intervention effects.

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