Bimanual Coordination Being Efficient Around Two Months After Stroke: A Key Recovery Moment for Starting Bimanual Rehabilitation Protocols?

^(*) Movement To Health, Montpellier-1 University, France
^(†) Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, Montpellier CHRU, France
^(‡) Grau du Roi Medical Center, Nîmes CHU, France
E-mail: julien.metrot@univ-montp1.fr

Abstract

Better understand how bimanual coordination evolves during the first weeks of natural recovery after stroke is needed to address bimanual rehabilitation. 15 stroke patients realized seven kinematic assessments once a week during six weeks and at three months. The grasping task was performed through 3D-movement analysis in three different conditions: unimanual with the non-paretic limb, unimanual with the paretic limb, and bimanual.

Inter-limb coordination became efficient about 6 weeks after stroke, represented by a plateau phase. Bimanual coordination is optimized around this period of recovery, indicating a possible beneficial effect of bimanual rehabilitation. Moreover, inter-limb coordination recorded at movement onset and at movement goal did not evolve over recovery.