Motor Representations in Orthopedic Patients

Motor Representations in Orthopedic Patients: Pilot Studies

The aim of this study is to investigate the possible effects that a motor limitation at the peripheral level might have on the ability to visually discriminate others' actions.

Previous literature has shown that specific motor skills (motor expertise) facilitate the visual discrimination of domain-specific actions, and that these motor experts' superior abilities might be mediated by areas not only responsible for the visual recognition of movements (as it happens in non-expert subjects) but also involved in motor planning. Similarly, impairment in the motor system due to neurological damage modulates not only the ability to perform movements but also the ability to discriminate and predict the temporal course of observed actions.

Based on these findings, it has been hypothesized that the motor representations of gait, despite being a hyper-learned motor pattern, might be subjected to modification as a result of an impairment of walking caused by a peripheral functional limitation in the lower limbs as the one characterizing orthopaedic patients who underwent a surgical operation for total knee arthroprosthesis. In this protocol, patients are thus required to perform visual discrimination tasks based on the observation of movements performed with either the upper or lower limbs, and their performance is expected to correlated with their functional impairments in movement execution.

These results would indicate that the (in)ability to perform a movement might have an impact on its representation at the central level and on internal motion simulation capabilities, which also influence the ability to visual discriminate others' actions through action-perception transfer: this would suggest that rehabilitation in orthopaedic patients should take into account (and restore) such a central impairment in motor representations.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Orthopedic Disorder; Perceptual Disorders; Motor Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Action discrimination tasks.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Italy
  • Milan, Italy, 20161
    • Recruiting
    • IRCCS Galeazzi Orthopedic Hospital
    • Principal Investigator: Eraldo Paulesu, MD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 43 years to 78 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Orthopaedic patients and age-matched healthy controls.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be able to understand instructions and have no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of neurological or psychiatric disorders.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Other
• Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
TKA; Orthopaedic patients who underwent surgical operation for total knee arthroprothesis.	Behavioral: Action discrimination tasks.; The investigators will compare the groups' performance during action discrimination tasks related to movements of the upper vs. lower limbs.
Rizoarthrosis; Orthopaedic patients who underwent surgical operation to treat chronic arthrosis of the thumb.	Behavioral: Action discrimination tasks.; The investigators will compare the groups' performance during action discrimination tasks related to movements of the upper vs. lower limbs.
Healthy Controls; Healthy age-matched controls.	Behavioral: Action discrimination tasks.; The investigators will compare the groups' performance during action discrimination tasks related to movements of the upper vs. lower limbs.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Group Differences in action discrimination performance.	Group Differences in action discrimination performance depending on the impairment in movement execution.	End 2018.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 31, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 30, 2017
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 21, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 24, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): November 30, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 30, 2017
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 24, 2017
• Last Verified: November 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Pathologic Processes; Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Disease; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Perceptual Disorders; Motor Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: RMPO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No