The cortical control of cycling exercise in stroke patients: An fNIRS study
- 28 March 2012
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Human Brain Mapping
- Vol. 34 (10), 2381-2390
- https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22072
Abstract
Stroke survivors suffering from deficits in motor control typically have limited functional abilities, which could result in poor quality of life. Cycling exercise is a common training paradigm for restoring locomotion rhythm in patients. The provision of speed feedback has been used to facilitate the learning of controlled cycling performance and the neuromuscular control of the affected leg. However, the central mechanism for motor relearning of active and passive pedaling motions in stroke patients has not been investigated as extensively. The aim of this study was to measure the cortical activation patterns during active cycling with and without speed feedback and during power-assisted (passive) cycling in stroke patients. A frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (FD-NIRS) system was used to detect the hemodynamic changes resulting from neuronal activity during the pedaling exercise from the bilateral sensorimotor cortices (SMCs), supplementary motor areas (SMAs), and premotor cortices (PMCs). The variation in cycling speed and the level of symmetry of muscle activation of bilateral rectus femoris were used to evaluate cycling performance. The results showed that passive cycling had a similar cortical activation pattern to that observed during active cycling without feedback but with a smaller intensity of the SMC of the unaffected hemisphere. Enhanced PMC activation of the unaffected side with improved cycling performance was observed during active cycling with feedback, with respect to that observed without feedback. This suggests that the speed feedback enhanced the PMC activation and improved cycling performance in stroke patients.Keywords
This publication has 52 references indexed in Scilit:
- Does Provision of Extrinsic Feedback Result in Improved Motor Learning in the Upper Limb Poststroke? A Systematic Review of the EvidenceNeurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 2009
- External Focus Instructions Reduce Postural Instability in Individuals With Parkinson DiseasePTJ: Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Journal, 2009
- Use of information feedback and attentional focus of feedback in treating the person with a hemiplegic armPhysiotherapy Research International, 2008
- Neural Correlates of Proprioceptive Integration in the Contralesional Hemisphere of Very Impaired Patients Shortly After a Subcortical Stroke: An fMRI StudyNeurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 2007
- Diffuse optical imaging of the whole headJournal of Biomedical Optics, 2006
- Kinesiological and kinematical analysis for stroke subjects with asymmetrical cycling movement patternsJournal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 2005
- Longitudinal Optical Imaging Study for Locomotor Recovery After StrokeStroke, 2003
- Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Motor Recovery After Stroke in AdultsStroke, 2003
- Imaging the premotor areasCurrent Opinion in Neurobiology, 2001
- Physiological Outcomes of Aerobic Exercise Training in Hemiparetic Stroke PatientsStroke, 1995