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Chronic Stroke Survivors Improve Reaching Accuracy by Reducing Movement Variability at the Trained Movement Speed

Hammerbeck, U; Yousif, N; Hoad, D; Greenwood, R; Diedrichsen, J; Rothwell, JC; (2017) Chronic Stroke Survivors Improve Reaching Accuracy by Reducing Movement Variability at the Trained Movement Speed. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair , 31 (6) pp. 499-508. 10.1177/1545968317693112. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recovery from stroke is often said to have "plateaued" after 6 to 12 months. Yet training can still improve performance even in the chronic phase. Here we investigate the biomechanics of accuracy improvements during a reaching task and test whether they are affected by the speed at which movements are practiced. METHOD: We trained 36 chronic stroke survivors (57.5 years, SD ± 11.5; 10 females) over 4 consecutive days to improve endpoint accuracy in an arm-reaching task (420 repetitions/day). Half of the group trained using fast movements and the other half slow movements. The trunk was constrained allowing only shoulder and elbow movement for task performance. RESULTS: Before training, movements were variable, tended to undershoot the target, and terminated in contralateral workspace (flexion bias). Both groups improved movement accuracy by reducing trial-to-trial variability; however, change in endpoint bias (systematic error) was not significant. Improvements were greatest at the trained movement speed and generalized to other speeds in the fast training group. Small but significant improvements were observed in clinical measures in the fast training group. CONCLUSIONS: The reduction in trial-to-trial variability without an alteration to endpoint bias suggests that improvements are achieved by better control over motor commands within the existing repertoire. Thus, 4 days’ training allows stroke survivors to improve movements that they can already make. Whether new movement patterns can be acquired in the chronic phase will need to be tested in longer term studies. We recommend that training needs to be performed at slow and fast movement speeds to enhance generalization.

Type: Article
Title: Chronic Stroke Survivors Improve Reaching Accuracy by Reducing Movement Variability at the Trained Movement Speed
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/1545968317693112
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/1545968317693112
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: stroke, motor recovery, motor learning, reaching, upper limb
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Clinical and Movement Neurosciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1557011
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