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A Novel Multimodal Approach to Promote Motor Recovery and Plasticity After Stroke
Sponsor: University of Utah
Summary
Upper extremity (UE) paresis or weakness is one of the most frequent impairments after stroke. Despite intense rehabilitation, motor and functional recovery of patients with severe hand impairments is poor. Hence, there is a need for more effective treatments to enhance motor function in patients with severe hand impairments after stroke. Adaptive functional electrical stimulation (FES) appears to be a promising treatment and has the potential to facilitate active movement in individuals with severe impairments post-stroke. In addition, transcranial random noise stimulation (trns) is a widely studied, non-invasive and safe method to enhance the corticomotor excitability in individuals with chronic stroke. However, the effect of combining trns and adaptive FES in patients with severe hand impairments has not been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether combining trns with FES will enhance hand function in individuals with chronic stroke than FES alone. The investigators predict that combining trns with FES will significantly enhance hand function than FES alone.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
40 Years - 85 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
78
Start Date
2026-11-02
Completion Date
2031-02-15
Last Updated
2026-10-22
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
tRNS (Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation)
Individuals in this group will receive tRNS at 2 mA intensity between 101-640 Hz. The current will be gradually ramped up for and down for the first and last 30 seconds of the stimulation.
FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation)-assisted task-specific practice
The FES-assisted task-specific practice will focus on restituting the movement components composing functional tasks. We will use the principles of motor learning with FES-assisted task-specific practice. Based on motor learning principles, our intervention will include 1) movement practice as close to normative as possible, 2) a high number of repetitions, 3) attention to the motor task, and 4) training specificity.
Sham-tRNS (Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation)
Individuals in this group will receive sham-tRNS via the same electrode configuration as the tRNS. The stimulation will gradually ramp up for 30 seconds and then fade away for the rest of the intervention session.
Locations (1)
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States