scholarly journals The efficacy of SMART Arm training early after stroke for stroke survivors withsevere upper limb disability: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BMC Neurology ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra G Brauer ◽  
Kathryn S Hayward ◽  
Richard G Carson ◽  
Andrew G Cresswell ◽  
Ruth N Barker
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Stroke Survivors ◽  
Randomised Controlled

scholarly journals Robotic-based ACTive somatoSENSory (Act.Sens) retraining on upper limb functions with chronic stroke survivors: study protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananda Sidarta ◽  
Yu Chin Lim ◽  
Christopher Wee Keong Kuah ◽  
Yong Joo Loh ◽  
Wei Tech Ang
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Study Protocol ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Chronic Stroke ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Stroke Survivors ◽  
Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Abstract Background Prior studies have established that senses of the limb position in space (proprioception and kinaesthesia) are important for motor control and learning. Although nearly one-half of stroke patients have impairment in the ability to sense their movements, somatosensory retraining focusing on proprioception and kinaesthesia is often overlooked. Interventions that simultaneously target motor and somatosensory components are thought to be useful for relearning somatosensory functions while increasing mobility of the affected limb. For over a decade, robotic technology has been incorporated in stroke rehabilitation for more controlled therapy intensity, duration, and frequency. This pilot randomised controlled trial introduces a compact robotic-based upper-limb reaching task that retrains proprioception and kinaesthesia concurrently. Methods Thirty first-ever chronic stroke survivors (> 6-month post-stroke) will be randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group. Over a 5-week period, the treatment group will receive 15 training sessions for about an hour per session. Robot-generated haptic guidance will be provided along the movement path as somatosensory cues while moving. Audio-visual feedback will appear following every successful movement as a reward. For the same duration, the control group will complete similar robotic training but without the vision occluded and robot-generated cues. Baseline, post-day 1, and post-day 30 assessments will be performed, where the last two sessions will be conducted after the last training session. Robotic-based performance indices and clinical assessments of upper limb functions after stroke will be used to acquire primary and secondary outcome measures respectively. This work will provide insights into the feasibility of such robot-assisted training clinically. Discussion The current work presents a study protocol to retrain upper-limb somatosensory and motor functions using robot-based rehabilitation for community-dwelling stroke survivors. The training promotes active use of the affected arm while at the same time enhances somatosensory input through augmented feedback. The outcomes of this study will provide preliminary data and help inform the clinicians on the feasibility and practicality of the proposed exercise. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04490655. Registered 29 July 2020.

scholarly journals Effects of priming intermittent theta burst stimulation on upper limb motor recovery after stroke: study protocol for a proof-of-concept randomised controlled trial

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e035348
Author(s):  
Jack Jiaqi Zhang ◽  
Kenneth N K Fong
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Sample Size Calculation ◽  
Facilitatory Effect ◽  
Theta Burst Stimulation ◽  
Burst Stimulation ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Theta Burst

IntroductionIntermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), delivered to the ipsilesional primary motor cortex (M1), appears to enhance the brain’s response to rehabilitative training in patients with stroke. However, its clinical utility is highly subject to variability in different protocols. New evidence has reported that preceding iTBS, with continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) may stabilise and even boost the facilitatory effect of iTBS on the stimulated M1, via metaplasticity. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of iTBS primed with cTBS (ie, priming iTBS), in addition to robot-assisted training (RAT), on the improvement of the hemiparetic upper limb functions of stroke patients and to explore potential sensorimotor neuroplasticity using electroencephalography (EEG).Methods and analysisA three-arm, subjects and assessors-blinded, randomised controlled trial will be performed with patients with chronic stroke. An estimated sample of 36 patients will be needed based on the prior sample size calculation. All participants will be randomly allocated to receive 10 sessions of rTMS with different TBS protocols (cTBS+iTBS, sham cTBS+iTBS and sham cTBS+sham iTBS), three to five sessions per week, for 2–3 weeks. All participants will receive 60 min of RAT after each stimulation session. Primary outcomes will be assessed using Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity scores and Action Research Arm Test. Secondary outcomes will be assessed using kinematic outcomes generated during RAT and EEG.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval has been obtained from The Human Subjects Ethics Sub-committee, University Research Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (reference number: HSEARS20190718003). The results yielded from this study will be presented at international conferences and sent to a peer-review journal to be considered for publication.Trial registration numberNCT04034069.

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