Effect of Body Representation in Movement

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Stroke
• Interventions: Behavioral: Magnification hand size; Device: magnifying lenses

• Registration Number: NCT02898558
• Lead Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania

Brief Summary

This study explores the possible implications of the increase in perceived body size for rehabilitation of motor functions. In a recent study we have tested if motor abilities of patients with stroke improve wearing magnifying lenses, showing that a beneficial effect of magnifying lenses can be observed in some patients. In the present study, we will identify 12 patients from this cohort who demonstrated an improvement greater than 10% in one or two motor task when wearing magnifying glasses. These participants will be invited to take part in a clinical study in which they will undergo a training phase: subjects will wear magnifying lenses at home for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle; a log will be kept to document participation. Participants' performance on different motor tasks will be assessed before, immediately after and 1 month after the training session. Standardized measures of motor performance will include the the Action Research Arm test and the Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP). In addition, participants will undergo grip strength, finger tapping tasks and a reaching and grasping task. We expect the repeated use of magnifying lenses to generate an improvement of patients' performance across tasks and this effect to be persistent in time.

Detailed Description

Altering the apparent size of a body part with magnifying changes tactile acuity, tactile distance judgments and pain perception.

In a recent study we have tested if motor abilities (grip strength, finger tapping and reaching and grasping) of patients with stroke improve wearing magnifying lenses. The results of this study showed that a beneficial effect of magnifying lenses on movement can be observed in some patients with stroke. The present study aims at following up these results and investigating the possible use of magnifying lenses in the rehabilitation to improve motor controls of stroke patients.

To pursuit this aim, we will identify 12 patients in our previous study cohort who demonstrated an improvement greater than 10% in the grip strength or finger tapping task when wearing magnifying glasses. These participants will be invited to take part in the present clinical study in which they will undergo a training phase: subjects will wear magnifying lenses at home for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle; a log will be kept to document participation. Participants' performance on different motor tasks will be assessed before, immediately after and 1 month after the training session. Standardized measures of motor performance will include the the Action Research Arm test and the Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP). In addition, participants will undergo grip strength (6 trials), finger tapping tasks (6 trials) and a reaching and grasping task, inn which they will be asked to reach and grasp 3 different objects (30 trials). We expect the repeated use of magnifying lenses to generate an improvement of patients' performance across task and this effect to be persistent in time.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-09
• Study First Submitted: 2016-09-08
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-09-12
• Study First Posted: 2016-09-13
• Primary Completion: 2017-09
• Study Completion: 2017-09
• Status Verified: 2017-11
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-11-28
• Last Update Posted: 2017-11-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 25

Inclusion Criteria

• Patients suffering from stroke who showed an improvement with magnifying lenses in our previous study.

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Exclusion Criteria

• Patients suffering from stroke who did not show an improvement with magnifying lenses in our previous study.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Magnification hand size	Magnification hand size	magnifying lenses used for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle
Magnification hand size	magnifying lenses	magnifying lenses used for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Action Research Arm test	Baseline, immediately after the training (two weeks) and after one month	19 item measure of motor control (i.e. (grasp, grip, pinch, and gross arm movement). Max score is 57

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Finger tapping	Baseline, immediately after the training (two weeks) and after one month	Electronic tapping test measures participants' tapping rate of the index finger
Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance	Baseline, immediately after the training (two weeks) and after one month	Battery designed to test somatosensory functions, comprising of 7 subtests (sharp/dull discrimination, surface pressure touch, surface localization, sensory extinction, two-point discrimination, temperature discrimination, proprioception movement and direction discrimination). Max score for each subtest is 60, except for sensory extinction (max is 12) and two-point discrimination (fail or pass).
Grip strength	Baseline, immediately after the training (two weeks) and after one month	A grip dynamometer measures participants' grip strength
Reach and grasping	Baseline, immediately after the training (two weeks) and after one month	Motion tracking equipment used to measure participants kinematic parameters (movement time, peak velocity, grip aperture, etc.) when reaching and grasping 3 objects, for a total of 30 movements.