Motor recovery after stroke involves developing new neural connections, acquiring new functions, and compensating for impairments. These processes are related to neural plasticity. Various novel stroke rehabilitation techniques based on basic science and clinical studies of neural plasticity have been developed to aid motor recovery. Current research aims to determine whether using combinations...

Accurate motor and functional prognosis after stroke is important for the optimal planning of a personalised rehabilitation programme, and clinical, demographic and radiological data are commonly employed for this purpose. It is becoming increasingly apparent that motor evoked potentials (MEPs), obtained through transcranial magnetic stimulation, can furnish complementary prognostic information...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Developing a better understanding of the trajectory and timing of stroke recovery is critical for developing patient-centered rehabilitation approaches. Here, we quantified proprioceptive and motor deficits using robotic technology during the first 6 months post stroke to characterize timing and patterns in recovery. We also make comparisons of robotic assessments to trad...

Respiratory insufficiency is the leading cause of death after high-cervical spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Although respiratory motor recovery can occur with time after injury, the magnitude of spontaneous recovery is limited. We hypothesized that partial respiratory motor recovery after chronic cervical SCI could be strengthened using a known stimulus for spinal synaptic enhancement, intermitten...

Neuromotor systems have the capacity for functional recovery following damage to the central nervous system. This recovery can be enhanced by rehabilitative training. Animal studies in which artificial damage is induced in a specific region of the brain or spinal cord of rodents or monkeys have contributed to our understanding of the effects of rehabilitative training. In this article, I provid...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Most improvement from poststroke aphasia occurs within the first 3 months, but there remains unexplained variability in recovery. Recently, we reported a strong correlation between initial impairment and change scores in motor recovery at 90 days. We wanted to determine whether aphasia recovery (defined as a change from baseline to 90 days) shows a comparably strong corre...

a r t i c l e i n f o The mechanism of motor recovery after stroke may involve reorganization of the surviving networks. However, details of adaptive changes in structural connectivity are not well understood. Here, we show long-term changes in white matter microstructure that relate to motor recovery in stroke patients. We studied ten subcortical ischemic stroke patients who showed motor hemip...

We systematically reviewed and analyzed the literature to find randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that employed robotic devices in upper-limb rehabilitation of people with stroke. Out of 574 studies, 12 matching the selection criteria were found. The Fugl-Meyer, Functional Independence Measure, Motor Power Scale, and Motor Status Scale outcome measures from the selected RCTs were pooled togeth...

The aim of this study was to systematically review published data on the value of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in predicting motor recovery of the upper extremity and general functional outcome early after stroke. We searched PubMed for original prognostic studies. Only full-text original papers evaluating the prognostic value of MEPs elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in mot...