Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of Visual Cue Training to Improve Adaptability of Walking after Stroke: Multi-Centre, Single-Blind Randomised Control Pilot Trial.

Objectives: Given the importance of vision in the control of walking and evidence indicating varied practice of walking improves mobility outcomes, this study sought to examine the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of varied walking practice in response to visual cues, for the rehabilitation of walking following stroke.

Design: This 3 arm parallel, multi-centre, assessor blind, randomised control trial was conducted within outpatient neurorehabilitation services.

Participants: Community dwelling stroke survivors with walking speed <0.

Visual cue training to improve walking and turning after stroke: a study protocol for a multi-centre, single blind randomised pilot trial.

Background: Visual information comprises one of the most salient sources of information used to control walking and the dependence on vision to maintain dynamic stability increases following a stroke. We hypothesize, therefore, that rehabilitation efforts incorporating visual cues may be effective in triggering recovery and adaptability of gait following stroke. This feasibility trial aims to estimate probable recruitment rate, effect size, treatment adherence and response to gait training with visual cues in contrast to conventional overground walking practice following stroke.

Feedback device for improvement of coordination of reach-to-grasp after stroke.

Objective: To describe a novel feedback device (Grasp Rehabilitation Accessory for Stroke Patients [GRASP]) that gives feedback on the time lag between the start of hand opening and the start of transport during reach-to-grasp movements, and to report the results of a preliminary series of single case studies to assess the utility of the device for improving the coordination of arm and hand at the beginning of a reach-to-grasp movement.

Design: A multiple baseline design across 6 subjects was used, with each subject performing 40 repetitions of reaching to grasp a jar. Two subjects each performed 10, 15, or 20 randomly assigned baseline repetitions.

Action-perception dissociation; preserved reactive grip force despite tactile extinction due to cortical stroke.

Sensory extinction following stroke, manifests as a bias in spatial attention towards ipsilesional spatial locations, which arises when stimuli from other locations compete for pathologically limited attentional resources. In the tactile domain, extinction results in a failure to verbally report tactile stimuli applied to a contralesional body part when they are timed to coincide with ipsilesional tactile contact. While it is typical for research in this area to focus on the verbal report of sensory stimuli as a measure of conscious awareness, work in visual extinction has shown that when contralesional stimuli fail to reach conscious awareness, they may still contribute to the control of actions.