BOSTON (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Six months after a stroke is when most insurance companies stop paying for a patient's physical therapy. That's because many health professionals believe by then, the patient has reached peak rehabilitation. But now researchers say a new robotic device proves patients can rehabilitate for years.
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After suffering a stroke, the simple task of washing dishes seemed impossible for Kip Johnson.
"I couldn't move my hand or right foot," Johnson told Ivanhoe.
After six months of physical therapy, Johnson could barely squeeze this ball.
"I was far from getting better," he said.
Doctors typically say patients reach peak recovery at six months, but physiologists say this new robotic device combined with functional MRI indicates patients can further rehabilitate if they continue to train beyond six months.
"We believe that we are one of the first groups to provide hard evidence that MRI can monitor their functional plasticity," Aria Tzika, Ph.D., a physiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Ivanhoe.
Functional MRI shows brain activity before, during and after training. In each MRI session, the robotic device's computer records the strength of the patient's ability to squeeze. While inside the MRI, a mirrored head coil allows the patient to see a computer display. A dot means Johnson should squeeze, all the while the MRI is mapping his brain activity.
"What we see is activity in the brain through changes of oxygenation through blood flow when the brain is active," Dr. Tzika said.
Johnson's MRI indicates his hand training increased activity in the cortex of his brain -- the area that corresponds with hand use.
"I want everyone to know if they work hard, they can be as good as I am," Johnson said.
Johnson continues to physically train every day, despite having suffered a stroke in 2003.
Even after patients in the study had stopped therapy for several months, researchers say they still showed increased brain activity -- meaning brain activity doesn't stop just because therapy does.
The American Association of Physicists in Medicine contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.
Massachusetts General Hospital and Shriners Burns Institute
A. Aria Tzika, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 371-4871
atzika@hms.harvard.edu
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