Combining intensive task practice with conceptual advances in neuro rehabilitation

In a study that appears in the November edition of Neurology Today Dr. Lindenberg of Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA report on their research that Bihemispheric brain stimulation facilitates motor recovery in chronic stroke patients http://bit.ly/gOoFb7 . The group showed that a combination of bihemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS and peripheral sensorimotor activities (traditional OT and PT) improved motor functions in chronic stroke patients. This research shows how conceptual advances in the neuroscience of recovery can be translated into clinical practice as established rehabilitation technique e.g. the “usual treatment” of functional exercise practice was combined with the tDCS. The HandTutor system provides patients with virtual functional task practice even if they do not have the movement ability to do traditional task practice exercise.