Effects of Training for Finger Perception on Functional Recovery of Hemiplegic Upper Limbs in Acute Stroke Patients

Strokecausesseveredisability,includingmotorandsensoryimpairments.Wehypothesizedthatupperlimb functionalrecoveryafterstrokemaybeaugmentedbycombiningtreatmentsformotorandsensoryfunctions.Inorderto examinethishypothesis,weconductedacontrolledtrialonrehabilitationforsensoryfunctiontotheplegichand.Methods. The sensorytrainingprogramconsistedofseveraltypesofdiscriminationtasksperformedunderblindconditions.Thesensory trainingprogramwasperformedfor20minperday,5daysaweek.Anexperimentalgroupof31patientsfollowedthissensory program,whileacontrolgroupof25patientsunderwentstandardrehabilitation.Theefficacyoftheinterventionwasevaluated bythetactile-pressurethreshold,handgripstrength,andthecompletiontimeofmanipulatingobjects.Atwo-wayrepeated measuresanalysisofvariancewasusedtoassessinteractionsbetweengroupandtime.Moreover,toprovideameaningful analysisforcomparisons,effectsizeswerecalculatedusingCohen’sd.Results. Themeanchangeinthetactilepressurethreshold wassignificantlylargerintheexperimentalgroupthaninthecontrolgroup(p<0:05,d=0:59).Moreover,thecompletiontimes tomanipulateamiddle-sizedball(d=0:53)andsmallball(d=0:80)andasmallmetaldisc(d=0:81)intheexperimental groupweresignificantlydifferentfromthoseinthecontrolgroup(p<0:05).Conclusion. Thepresentresultssuggestthatthe sensorytrainingprogramtoenhancefingerdiscriminationabilitycontributestoimprovementsinnotonlysensoryfunctionbut alsomanualfunctioninstrokepatients.ThetrialisregisteredwiththeUMINClinicalTrialsRegistry(UMIN000032025).