TY - JOUR
T1 - Preserved motor skill learning in acute stroke patients
AU - Baguma, Marius
AU - Yeganeh Doost, Maral
AU - Riga, Audrey
AU - Laloux, Patrice
AU - Bihin, Benoît
AU - Vandermeeren, Yves
N1 - Funding Information:
The work of YV was supported by the following grants: Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS, Nos. F 3/5/5-MCF/ROI/BC-19727 and F 3/5/5-MCF/XH/FC-17514) Post-Doctorate Clinical Master Specialist [SPD] 1.R.506.16 and 1.R.506.18, Fonds Spécial de Recherche (FSR) grant from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) 2016, and Fondation Mont-Godinne 2015–2016. The work of MYD was supported by UCL FSR grant in 2013 and by FRNS-FRIA grants F 3/5/5 2014 and 2016. The work of AR was supported by a grant from the Fondation Mont-Godinne 2015 and by a UCL FSR grant 2016. The work of MB was self-funded. Acknowledgements
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Belgian Neurological Society.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Recovery is dynamic during acute stroke, but whether new motor skills can be acquired with the paretic upper limb (UL) during this recovery period is unknown. Clarifying this unknown is important, because neurorehabilitation largely relies on motor learning. The aim was to investigate whether, during acute stroke, patients achieved motor skill learning and retention with the paretic UL. Over 3 consecutive days (D1–D3), 14 patients practiced with their paretic UL the CIRCUIT, a motor skill learning task with a speed/accuracy trade-off (SAT). A Learning Index (LI) was used to quantify normalised SAT changes in comparison with baseline. Spontaneous motor recovery was quantified by another task without SAT constraint (EASY), by grip force (GF), and the Box and Blocks test (BBT). In patients, CIRCUIT LI improved 98% ± 66.2 (mean ± SD). This improvement was similar to that of young healthy individuals (n = 30) who trained with a slightly different protocol for 3 consecutive days (83.8% ± 58.8%). Generalisation of SAT gains to an untrained circuit was observed in both groups. From D1 to D3, stroke patients improved their performance on EASY, while changes in GF and BBT were heterogeneous. During acute stroke, patients retained SAT gains for a motor skill learned with the paretic UL in a manner similar to that of healthy individuals. These results demonstrate acute stroke patients achieved motor skill learning and retention that exceeded paretic UL improvements explained by spontaneous recovery.
AB - Recovery is dynamic during acute stroke, but whether new motor skills can be acquired with the paretic upper limb (UL) during this recovery period is unknown. Clarifying this unknown is important, because neurorehabilitation largely relies on motor learning. The aim was to investigate whether, during acute stroke, patients achieved motor skill learning and retention with the paretic UL. Over 3 consecutive days (D1–D3), 14 patients practiced with their paretic UL the CIRCUIT, a motor skill learning task with a speed/accuracy trade-off (SAT). A Learning Index (LI) was used to quantify normalised SAT changes in comparison with baseline. Spontaneous motor recovery was quantified by another task without SAT constraint (EASY), by grip force (GF), and the Box and Blocks test (BBT). In patients, CIRCUIT LI improved 98% ± 66.2 (mean ± SD). This improvement was similar to that of young healthy individuals (n = 30) who trained with a slightly different protocol for 3 consecutive days (83.8% ± 58.8%). Generalisation of SAT gains to an untrained circuit was observed in both groups. From D1 to D3, stroke patients improved their performance on EASY, while changes in GF and BBT were heterogeneous. During acute stroke, patients retained SAT gains for a motor skill learned with the paretic UL in a manner similar to that of healthy individuals. These results demonstrate acute stroke patients achieved motor skill learning and retention that exceeded paretic UL improvements explained by spontaneous recovery.
KW - Acute stroke
KW - Hemiparesis
KW - Motor recovery
KW - Motor skill learning
KW - Neurorehabilitation
KW - Upper limb function
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081284101&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13760-020-01304-7
DO - 10.1007/s13760-020-01304-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 32152996
AN - SCOPUS:85081284101
SN - 0300-9009
VL - 120
SP - 365
EP - 374
JO - Acta Neurologica Belgica
JF - Acta Neurologica Belgica
IS - 2
ER -