The Impact of Motor Rehabilitation on the Dynamic Properties of the Brain: Towards the Individual Tailoring of Therapeutic Interventions in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Overview
- Phase
- N/A
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Sponsor
- Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla
- Enrollment
- 30
- Primary Endpoint
- Change in the time to perform the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT)
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 7 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
Motor learning can induce significant changes in the human brain through neural plasticity processes, which play a crucial role in the brain functional reorganization in response to external stimuli and/or to pathological conditions. For example, people with multiple sclerosis present motor deficits often associated with cerebral activity alteration. However, whether these brain activation changes contribute to or protect against motor performance deficits still needs to be determined.
Moreover, rehabilitation protocols could be designed to obtain efficient brain adaptation to preserve patients' outcome, but consistent data on the real efficacy of rehabilitative procedures are lacking, in particular concerning the rehabilitation effect on brain networks.
Therefore, this project focuses on the degree to which imaging measures of functional brain activity can give new hints on the effects of motor rehabilitative protocols in multiple sclerosis patients' performance. Particularly, the investigator's aim is to investigate the effects of upper limb rehabilitation, focused on hand motor function, and the correlation between motor performance and functional magnetic resonance data.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Multiple sclerosis diagnosis according to McDonald criteria
- •right handedness as assessed by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory
- •absence of relapses in the last three months
- •mild or moderate sensorimotor impairment in one or both upper limbs as evaluated by means of the Medical Research Council scale (grade 3-4)
Exclusion Criteria
- •steroid-use or a worsening of the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score in the last three months
- •psychiatric disorders
- •severe cognitive impairment
- •magnetic resonance imaging contraindications
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change in the time to perform the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT)
Time Frame: Baseline and 8 weeks
The NHPT is a brief, standardized, quantitative test of upper extremity function, requiring participants to repeatedly place and then remove nine pegs into nine holes, one at a time, as quickly as possible.
Secondary Outcomes
- Grip and pinch strength(Baseline and 8 weeks)
- Brain activity (blood-oxygenation-level dependent signal)(Baseline and 8 weeks)
- Score obtained at the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT)(Baseline and 8 weeks)