Effects of sensory retraining on recovery of the hemiplegic upper limb in stroke patients (A Single-System Design)

Sensory deficits after stroke are common with prevalence rates variously reported to be 11% to 85%. In spite of the fact that Sensory deficits can decrease the quality of upper limb's movements and result in impairments in fine motor manipulation of objects, grasp and manipulative skills and finally decrease the patient's quality of life but commonly overlooked in stroke rehabilitation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sensory retraining on upper limb recovery.

In this study we studied 5 chronic stroke patients were participated using a single-system (A-B) design. During the baseline phase patient's function and motor impairment of upper limb were measured by Fugl-Meyer and Motoricity Index and their hand dexterity were measured by Box and Block test on three days intervals. When Patients reached to a stable pattern of changes, their treatment program began. In this phase they received sensory retraining intervention for 6 weeks. Based on sensory retraining principles and according to each patient's abilities, intervention began with detection and localization of constant and moving touch and followed by higher discriminatory tasks, such as graphestesia. Then results of evaluations of two phases were analyzed.

Four patients showed significant improvements in upper limb function. The data showed significant improvements in motor impairments and hand dexterity in all of them.

Regarding of significant recovery of upper limb function, motor impairment and hand dexterity of patients, sensory retraining can be considered as a practical method in rehabilitation of stroke patients. However further research with larger sample size is needed.