title: The role of task-specific training in rehabilitation therapies.
abstract: Task-oriented therapy is important. It makes intuitive sense that the best way to relearn a given task is to train specifically for that task. In animals, functional reorganization is greater for tasks that are meaningful to the animal. Repetition alone, without usefulness or meaning in terms of function, is not enough to produce increased motor cortical representations. In humans, less intense but task-specific training regimens with the more affected limb can produce cortical reorganization and associated, meaningful functional improvements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, St. Joseph's Health Care and the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Nestor A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Bayona
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bitensky
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Salter
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Teasell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis