RESEARCH ARTICLE
Effects of Computer-Aided Interlimb Force Coupling Training on Paretic Hand and Arm Motor Control following Chronic Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial Chueh-Ho Lin1, Li-Wei Chou2, Hong-Ji Luo2, Po-Yi Tsai3, Fu-Kong Lieu4, ShangLin Chiang2,5,6, Wen-Hsu Sung2¤* 1 School of Gerontology Health Management & Master Program in Long-Term Care, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.), 2 Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.), 3 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.), 4 Cheng Hsin Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.), 5 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O. C.), 6 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
OPEN ACCESS Citation: Lin C-H, Chou L-W, Luo H-J, Tsai P-Y, Lieu F-K, Chiang S-L, et al. (2015) Effects of ComputerAided Interlimb Force Coupling Training on Paretic Hand and Arm Motor Control following Chronic Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0131048. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0131048 Editor: Terence J Quinn, University of Glasgow, UNITED KINGDOM Received: November 5, 2014
¤ Current address: Department of Physical Therapy and Assistive Technology, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec.2, Linong Street, Beitou Dist., Taipei, 112, Taiwan (R.O.C.) *
[email protected]
Abstract Objective We investigated the training effects of interlimb force coupling training on paretic upper extremity outcomes in patients with chronic stroke and analyzed the relationship between motor recovery of the paretic hand, arm and functional performances on paretic upper limb.
Accepted: May 27, 2015 Published: July 20, 2015
Design
Copyright: © 2015 Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
A randomized controlled trial with outcome assessment at baseline and after 4 weeks of intervention.
Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST 103-2221E-010 -008 -MY2) and Taipei Medical University (TMU103- AE1- B24). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Setting Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University.
Participants Thirty-three subjects with chronic stroke were recruited and randomly assigned to training (n = 16) and control groups (n = 17).
Interventions The computer-aided interlimb force coupling training task with visual feedback included different grip force generation methods on both hands.
PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0131048 July 20, 2015
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Coupling Training and Paretic Limb Motor Control after Stroke
Main Outcome Measures The Barthel Index (BI), the upper extremity motor control Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMAUE), the Motor Assessment Score (MAS), and the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT). All assessments were executed by a blinded evaluator, and data management and statistical analysis were also conducted by a blinded researcher.
Results The training group demonstrated greater improvement on the FMA-UE (p
