Published Online
on December 1, 2005

A more recent version of this article appeared on January 1, 2006

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Submitted on May 31, 2005
Revised on September 26, 2005
Accepted on October 14, 2005

Effects of Somatosensory Stimulation on Use-Dependent Plasticity in Chronic Stroke

Lumy Sawaki MD, PhD^*; Carolyn W.-H. Wu PhD; Alain Kaelin-Lang MD; and Leonardo G. Cohen MD

From the Human Cortical Physiology Section (L.S., C.W.-H.W., A.K.-L., L.G.C.) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke/National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md; Department of Neurology (L.S.), Program in Rehabilitation, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC; Department of Neurology (A.K.-L.), Motor Laboratory and Movement Disorders Center, University Hospital Inselspital, Bern Switzerland.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lsawaki{at}wfubmc.edu.

Background and Purpose--There is a need to develop strategies to enhance the beneficial effects of motor training, including use-dependent plasticity (UDP), in neurorehabilitation. Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) modulates motor cortical excitability in healthy humans and could influence training effects in stroke patients.

Methods--We compared the ability of PNS applied to the (1) arm, (2) leg, and (3) idle time to influence training effects in the paretic hand in 7 chronic stroke patients. The end point measure was the magnitude of UDP.

Results--UDP was more prominent with arm stimulation (increased by 22.8%) than with idle time (by 2.9%) or leg stimulation (by 6.4%).

Conclusions--PNS applied to the paretic limb paired with motor training enhances training effects on cortical plasticity in stroke patients.

Key words: nerve stimulation • neuronal plasticity • stroke • stimulation, transcranial magnetic

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