Effect of Cerebral Motor Cortical Excitability and Hand Dexterity on Dominant Hemisphere Difference after 1 Hz Low Frequency rTMS Combined with Hand Manual Therapy in Chronic stroke

Abstract

The paper was to find out effects of cerebral motor excitability and hand dexterity used to 1 Hz low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with hand manual therapy (HMT) on dominant hand difference in chronic stroke patients. 16 stroke patients were classified into the dominant hand HMT with r TMS group (DHMT+rTMSG) and non-dominant hand HMT with rTMS group (NDHMT+rTMSG), and 1 ㎐ low-frequency rTMS with HMT was performed. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) amplitude, latency and box and block test (BBT) were used to confirm cerebral motor activity and hand dexterity. In DHMT+rTMSG, MEPs amplitude, latency and BBT showed significant differences. In NDHMT+rTMSG, MEPs amplitude, latency only showing significant difference. In the comparison between groups, MEPs amplitude, latency showed significant difference. Therefore, the 1 ㎐ low frequency rTMS combined with HMT according to the dominant hand difference is considered to be an n approach applied in the recovery of hand function in stroke.