Evaluation of Intervention Effectiveness of Sensory Compensatory Training with Tactile Discrimination Feedback on Sensorimotor Dysfunction of the Hand after Stroke.

Ken Kitai,Masashi Odagiri,Ryosuke Yamauchi,Takayuki Kodama

doi:10.3390/brainsci11101314

Ken Kitai, Masashi Odagiri + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11101314

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Abstract

We investigated the intervention effect of training using a feedback-type tactile discrimination system on sensorimotor dysfunction of the hand after a stroke. A human male subject with sensorimotor dysfunction in his left hand after a stroke was asked to perform peg manipulation practice, a building block stacking task, and a material identification task for 10 min each for six weeks. During the activities, a tactile discrimination feedback system was used. The system is a device that detects the vibration information generated when touching an object with a hand and that feeds back the captured information in real time as vibration information. After the intervention, in addition to the reorganization of the sensorimotor areas, the deep sensation, sense of agency, numbness, amount of use, and quality of the left-hand movement improved. Our results suggest that training with the use of a feedback system could be a new form of rehabilitation for sensorimotor dysfunction of the hand.

Highlights

85% of stroke patients experience hemiplegia as an aftereffect
60% are unable to use the function of the affected hand in daily life and have impaired activities of daily living (ADL) [2,3,4]
To develop a new method for rehabilitating sensorimotor dysfunction of the hand, we focused on an approach using a deep sensory vibrating stimulus that compensates for the frictional information input received by the hand

Summary

Introduction

85% of stroke patients experience hemiplegia as an aftereffect. One of the most common symptoms of hemiplegia is sensory dysfunction of the hand, which is closely related to upper limb motor function [1]. When feedback from the somatosensory system is blocked or attenuated in the different pathways of the central nervous system due to some effect, the muscles can adjust reflexively via somatosensory sensation; when grasping an object with a hand, the central nervous system shows an excessive output of grasping force, and the variation of force during the movement becomes large, resulting in the object being dropped [7] This is called sensorimotor dysfunction of the hand and can appear of which afferent pathway of the central nervous system is damaged—from the posterior spinal cord to the brain cortex [1,8]. To evaluate the approaches that deliver feedback from sensory stimuli, visual [10,11,12], electrical [13,14], and auditory [15] stimuli have been used for the rehabilitation of sensorimotor dysfunction in hemiplegic patients

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