Postural Control and Fine Motor Skills in People With Stroke

December 5, 2017 updated by: Christian Finetto, Medical University of South Carolina

Biomechanical Assessment of the Relationship Between Postural Control and Fine Motor Skills in People With Stroke

This study evaluates the relationship between seated posture and fine motor performance in a drawing task in people with stroke and in healthy control subjects.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Current stroke rehabilitation practice guidelines support an interprofessional approach which integrates discipline-specific goals into a comprehensive plan of care. However, there has been a failure to implement interprofessional guidelines into today's stroke rehabilitation clinical practice. Instead it is common that one discipline focuses on recovery of posture, while another discipline focuses on recovery of fine motor skills. The investigators argue that control of the hand is not independent from postural control. In fact, treating them separately ignores the kinematic and muscular linkages connecting the trunk to the hand via the scapula and proximal arm. It also ignores evidence that postural and hand muscles have overlapping cortical representations thus likely have similar neural control networks. Hence, the overall goal of this project is to demonstrate the relationship of posture and fine motor skills to advance stroke rehabilitation.

The study will include two groups, stroke survivors and neurologically healthy controls, and both will perform a tracing task while seated on a backless bench. The task will be performed twice, at baseline and after giving participants cues to improve their posture. Both task repetitions will be performed in a single session on the same day. Kinetic and kinematic data will be collected to evaluate posture, postural stability and fine motor performance. Data collected at baseline will be used to examine the relationship between postural impairments and fine motor deficits. Additionally, we will evaluate the effects of postural cues on body segment alignment, stability and fine motor performance.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

38

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • South Carolina
      • Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425
        • Medical University of South Carolina

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 90 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Stroke patients will be recruited from the MUSC Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurological Conditions database (approved IRB PRO# 15991, PI Kautz) that currently contains contact information for ~120 stroke survivors who have agreed to be contacted for research participation.

Description

Stroke survivors:

Inclusion Criteria:

  • experienced uni-hemispheric ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke 3 mo - 7 yrs prior
  • ability to grasp and hold a stylus for the duration of the experiments
  • passive motion throughout the paretic UE within 20° of normal
  • dominant side affected

Exclusion Criteria:

  • lesion in brainstem or cerebellum
  • presence of other neuro-disease impairing motor skills
  • unable to understand 3-step directions
  • pain, orthopedic condition or impaired corrected vision that would alter reaching

Healthy Controls:

Inclusion Criteria:

  • no history of stroke or incomplete spinal cord injury
  • no medical, orthopedic, neurological, or uncorrected visual condition that would limit the ability to participate in upper extremity testing

Exclusion Criteria:

  • none

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Stroke survivors
Individuals that experienced uni-hemispheric ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke
A therapist will provide verbal/physical cues to improve the participants posture
Controls
Healthy controls with no history of stroke
A therapist will provide verbal/physical cues to improve the participants posture

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in tracing smoothness from baseline to after postural counseling
Time Frame: Within 24 hours
Change in the average jerk of the hand trajectory during a tracing task
Within 24 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in center of pressure displacement from baseline to after postural counseling
Time Frame: Within 24 hours
Change in the maximum center of pressure displacement during a tracing task
Within 24 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Christian Finetto, PhD, Medical University of South Carolina

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 4, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 5, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

July 5, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 27, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

December 6, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

December 6, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 5, 2017

Last Verified

December 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pro00040824

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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