Article

Timing deficits can have a negative impact on the lives of survivors
post-chronic stroke. Studies evaluating ways to improve timing post stroke are
scarce. The goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of a single session of
haptic guidance (HG) and error amplification (EA) robotic training interventions
on the improvement of post-stroke timing accuracy. METHODS: Thirty-four survivors post-chronic stroke were randomly assigned to HG or EA.
Participants played a computerized pinball-like game with their affected hand
positioned in a robot that either helped them perform better (HG) or worse (EA)
during the task. A baseline and retention phase preceded and followed HG and EA,
respectively, in order to assess their efficiency at improving absolute timing
errors. The impact of the side of the stroke lesion on the participants'
performance during the timing task was also explored for each training group.
RESULTS: An improvement in timing performance was only noted following HG (8.9
+/- 4.9 ms versus 7.8 +/- 5.3 ms, p = 0.032). Moreover, for the EA group only,
participants with a left-sided stroke lesion showed a worsening in performance as
compared to those with a right-sided stroke lesion (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION:
Helping survivors post-chronic stroke perform a timing-based task is beneficial
to learning. Future studies should explore longer and more frequent HG training
sessions in order to further promote post stroke motor recovery. Implications for
Rehabilitation Timing is crucial for the accomplishment of daily tasks. The
number of studies dedicated to improving timing is scarce in the literature, even
though timing deficits are common post stroke. This innovative study evaluated
the impact of a single session of haptic guidance-HG and error amplification-EA
robotic training interventions on improvements in timing accuracy among survivors
post chronic stroke. HG robotic training improves timing accuracy more than EA
among survivors post chronic stroke.

Langue : ANGLAIS