Enhancing arm recovery following stroke by mental imagery

Some stroke survivors temporarily lose the use of an arm. Some recovery may occur over time, which suggests that the brain has the potential to compensate for some damage that is caused. Recently functional brain imaging has improved the understanding of brain activity and led to the development of methods to train the brain to 'relearn' arm use, which may reduce disability. However, these techniques are not appropriate for patients with no arm movement immediately after stroke.

Athletes are known to use a technique of mentally practicing a task to improve actual performance. This process activates similar brain areas to those activated when physically carrying out the task. This is beneficial to stroke patients as they can practice it by themselves and it is an effective method of reducing disability.

In this study images will be taken of the brains of recent stroke patients who cannot move their arm. Images will be taken when they are performing a motor imagery task, before and after regular physiotherapy or additional mental imagery training aimed at enhancing the 'relearning' process. It is hoped the results of this study will provide new information about the effects of this technique on the brain affected by stroke, with the aim of conducting a full scale trial in the future.

Scientific Title: Mapping the effects of mental motor imagery on brain function in subacute stroke

PDF presentation of this research project.pdf (1316 kb)

This presentation was presented by the researchers at The Stroke Association Scientific Conference in September 2005.

Classification:
Rehabilitation, Neurorehabilitation/Imaging

Publications:

N Sharma, VM Pomeroy, J-C Baron. Motor Imagery. A backdoor to the motor system after stroke? Stroke, 37; 1941-1952 2006

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