Effects of Cerebral Cortex Activation on Bimanual Task Training with and without Dominant Hand for Chronic Stroke Patients Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cerebral cortex activation on bimanual task training in chronic stroke patients with or without dominant hand injury using transcranial magnetic stimulation. This study was performed on 26 chronic stroke patients who was performed the bimanual task training such as that are easy to use in daily task by dividing dominant hand affected group (n=13) and non-dominant hand affected group (n=13). To evaluate the cerebral cortical activity before and after training, we measured transcranial magnetic stimulation as the motor evoke potentials (MEP’s). There were differences in cerebral cortical activation between the treatment period and groups in the bimanual task training according to presence or absence of dominant hand on the impaired side. For the effective cerebral cortex activation of stroke patients, it is necessary to select appropriate bimanual task training according to the presence of the damaged side and dominant hand, and to take into consideration the difference in the characteristics of the right and left cerebral hemispheres acting on the motor function.