Thesis (Sc.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Therapy to restore functional movement of stroke patients is based on assumptions about what deficits occur in motor control as a result of stroke. These assumptions are derived from observational studies of movement behavior. The success of therapy to restore voluntary movement has been limited, perhaps as a result of insufficient information concerning the characteristics of movement post stroke. Technology now exists to quantitatively describe the characteristics of movement behavior. In this study WATSMARTtm, a non-contact, optoelectric motion analysis system, was used in combination with surface electromyography to measure voluntary movement in the symptomatic and nonsymptomatic arms of five subjects with left hemiparesis as they attempted to reach to one of three targets placed to require movement inside and outside of extensor synergy. Each subject was tested five times over approximately a nine week period.
Results indicated that the symptomatic arms were significantly less able to generate muscular activity and to move in a smooth coordinated way [execute the program] than the nonsymptomatic arms whose scores were essentially within normal limits. Target location made no significant difference to the speed or smoothness of movement, but did significantly affect level of muscle activity because of the biomechanical demands of each location. Over the two month period, there were no significant improvements in the nonaffected arms, as would be expected. In the affected arms, amplitude of peak velocity and sense of limb position significantly improved. Improved amplitude of peak velocity was related more to a decrease in the discontinuity of movement (r=-.49, p<.02), a sign of increased maturity of reach, than to electrical activity of the prime movers (anterior deltoid: r=.l9; biceps: r =.37, p<.05).
Since the goals of therapy to restore functional movement are to reverse deficient aspects of movement, the findings suggest that strengthening and relearning of motor programs would be appropriate therapeutic goals for these patients. The effectiveness of therapy to actually reverse these deficits must, of course, be established in future studies. / 2031-01-01
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/37171 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Trombly, Catherine A. |
| Publisher | Boston University |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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