BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There are few effective therapies to achieve functional recovery from motor-related disabilities affecting the upper limb after stroke. This feasibility study tested whether a powered exoskeleton driven by a brain-computer interface (BCI), using neural activity from the unaffected cortical hemisphere, could affect motor recovery in chronic hemiparetic stroke survivors. Th...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of most disabling disorders of the central nervous system. The motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease: shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement, postural instability and difficulty with walking and gait, are difficult to measure. When disease symptoms become more pronounced, the patient experiences difficulties with hand function and walking, and is prone to falls....

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation (sNMES) after stroke aims to improve upper limb function and reduce shoulder pain, but current evidence of effectiveness is inconclusive. We have undertaken a randomized controlled trial to evaluate sNMES to the shoulder after acute stroke. METHODS One hundred seventy-six patients, within 10 days of stroke onset, were randomi...

OBJECTIVE To examine the intra- and inter-rater reliability of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) at the item level after stroke. DESIGN An intra-rater and inter-rater reliability study. SUBJECTS Thirty-five participants (median age 62 years, median time post-stroke 22 months) with impaired upper extremity function after stroke were included in the study. METHODS Two physiotherapists sim...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Longitudinal conducted studies show that neurologic and functional recovery show faster recovery in the first weeks poststroke. The aim of the present study was to study the effects of progress of time on observed improvements in motor strength, synergisms, and activities during the first 16 weeks poststroke. METHODS Based on data from a previous study, 101 patients wit...