Effect of thermal stimulation on upper extremity motor recovery 3 months after stroke.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of thermal stimulation (TS) on upper extremity (UE) motor recovery in patients at least 3 months after stroke.


METHODS
Participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. In addition to regular rehabilitation programs, the experimental group received an UE-TS protocol for 30 minutes per day (3 days/week for 8 weeks); the control group received the same TS protocol on lower extremity. The UE subscale of the Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment of Movement and the Action Research Arm Test were primary outcome measures. The Modified Ashworth Scale and the Barthel Index were secondary outcome measures. All measures were administered at baseline, after TS, and at 1-month follow-up.


RESULTS
Twenty-three participants (12 in the experimental group) completed the study. After treatment, the experimental group showed significant improvement compared to the control group in the scores of the UE subscale of the Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment of Movement and Action Research Arm Test. At follow-up examination, a significant improvement in the experimental group was observed on the UE subscale of the Stroke Rehabilitation Assessment of Movement.


CONCLUSIONS
The 8-week additional UE-TS protocol improved UE motor recovery for stroke patients 3 months after onset.
Wu
Hung-Chia
HC
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Lin
Yu-Ching
YC
Hsu
Miao-Ju
MJ
Liu
Shin-Mei
SM
Hsieh
Ching-Lin
CL
Lin
Jau-Hong
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006358:Hot Temperature / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010291:Paresis / Q000628:therapy*; D018579:Patient Selection; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome