Retrain Your Brain After Stroke

Reported December 2008

NEWARK, Del. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Stroke patients often have to overcome a number of challenges before they can get back on their feet. Physical therapists are using a new tool to help patients not only retrain their bodies but also rewire their brains.

Two years ago, Terri Knudsen suffered a sudden, massive stroke while she was talking to a friend.

"I noticed I was talking funny, like I had an accent, and she said it sounded like I was underwater," Knudsen told Ivanhoe.

Knudsen lost mobility on her left side. She spent months relearning how to stand and how to walk.

Physical therapists are using a new tool to help patients like Knudsen regain an even gait. Using motion detector cameras, physical therapist Darcy Reisman, Ph.D., an expert in biomechanics and movement science at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., analyzes how a patient moves on a specially designed split-belt treadmill. The belts can run together, or therapists can program the belts separately.

Dr. Reisman says when a patient's legs move at two different speeds, the brain gets an error signal. Next, the patient's brain and nervous system use the feedback to adjust. The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls coordination. It remembers what it has learned even after the treadmill stops. For just a few minutes, stroke patients have an easier time on solid ground.

"You notice immediately that you want to take a bigger stride," Knudsen said. "It was a definite carryover from the treadmill."

"There's the immediate effect that you get," Dr. Reisman told Ivanhoe. "The problem is, of course, that it decays."

Dr. Reisman wants to know if additional treadmill therapy will help rewire the brain, resulting in longer periods of even walking -- and making the split-belt treadmill the first step towards a faster recovery for stroke patients.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Darcy Reisman, PhD, PT
Department of Physical Therapy
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
(302) 831-0508
dreisman@udel.edu

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