Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026
Motor Imagery Brain-Computer Interface in Rehabilitation of Upper Limb Motor Dysfunction After Stroke
Published on: September 1, 2023
Motor cortex activation during treatment may predict therapeutic gains in paretic hand function after stroke
Yun Dong1, Bruce H Dobkin, Steven Y Cen
1Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Background And Purpose:
Functional brain imaging after stroke offers insight into motor network adaptations. This exploratory study examined whether motor cortical activation captured during arm-focused therapy can predict paretic hand functional gains.
Methods:
Eight hemiparetic patients had serial functional MRI (fMRI) while performing a pinch task before, midway, and after 2 weeks of constraint-induced therapy. The Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) was performed before and after intervention.
Results:
There was a linear reduction in ipsilateral (contralesional) primary motor (M1) activation (voxel counts) across time. The midpoint M1 Laterality Index anticipated post-therapeutic change in time to perform the WMFT. The change in ipsilateral M1 voxel count (pre- to mid-) correlated with the change in mean WMFT time (pre- to post-).
Conclusions:
The relationship between brain activation during treatment and functional gains suggests a use for serial fMRI in predicting the success and optimal duration for a focused therapeutic intervention.
