title: Early post-stroke period: A privileged time for sensory re-weighting?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Shortly after stroke, patients exhibit excessive sensitivity to visual, proprioceptive and vestibular perturbations regarding balance control.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the stability of this perceptual behaviour after stroke and test the relationships between sensory sensitivity and balance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty subjects following a hemispheric stroke (mean age 54.7 (standard deviation (SD) 10.6 years), 21 men, right hemisphere lesion = 13) and 30 control subjects (mean age 52.0 (SD 12.0), 14 men). Sensitivity to sensory perturbations was evaluated using the displacement of the centre of pressure during tendon vibration (proprioception score), optokinetic (visual score) and galvanic perturbations (vestibular score) while standing on a force-platform a mean of 2 months after stroke, and 1 month later. Balance and independence were evaluated using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go test (TUG) and Barthel Index (BI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Global sensitivity to perturbations decreased (p = 0.001). Patients remained more sensitive to visual perturbation than did controls (p = 0.033). The Vestibular Score was correlated with BBS (Rs = -0.576, p = 0.006), TUG (Rs = 0.408, p = 0.045), BI (Rs = -0.481, p = 0.016); the Visual Score was correlated with BBS (Rs = -0.500, p = 0.019), TUG (Rs = 0.401, p = 0.049).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The initial months following stroke appear to be a period of individual perceptual motor adaptation. Sensory re-weighting is likely to be a major component of that process.
authors.affiliation: Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, 2 rue Henri le Guilloux, 35000 Rennes, France. isabelle.bonan@chu-rennes.fr.
authors.forename: Isabelle V
authors.initials: IV
authors.lastname: Bonan
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gaillard
authors.forename: Sophie Tasseel
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Ponche
authors.forename: Adelaïde
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marquer
authors.forename: Pierre P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.forename: Alain P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Yelnik
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006429:Hemiplegia / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*