title: Reactive grip force control in persons with cerebellar stroke: effects on ipsilateral and contralateral hand.
abstract: This study investigates the cerebellar contribution to reactive grip control by examining differences between (22-48 years) subjects with focal cerebellar lesion due to ischaemic stroke (CL) and healthy subjects (HS). The subjects used a pinch grip to grasp and restrain an instrumented handle from moving when it was subject to unpredictable load forces of different rates (2, 4, 8, 32 N/s) or amplitudes (1, 2, 4 N). The hand ipsilateral to the lesion of the cerebellar subjects showed delayed and more variable response latencies, e.g., 278 +/- 162 ms for loads delivered at 2 N/s, compared to HS 180 +/- 53 ms (P = 0.005). The CL also used a higher pre-load grip force with the ipsilateral hand, 1.6 +/- 0.8 N, than the HS, 1.3 +/- 0.6 N (P = 0.017). In addition, the contralateral hand in subjects with unilateral cerebellar stroke showed a delayed onset of the grip response compared to HS. Cerebellar lesions thus impair the reactive grip control both in the ipsilateral and contralateral hand.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Section for Physiotherapy, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. elisabeth.anens@neuro.uu.se
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anens
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kristensen
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Häger-Ross
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002526:Cerebellar Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult