Bimanual Coordination Being Efficient Around Two Months After Stroke: A Key Recovery Moment for Starting Bimanual Rehabilitation Protocols?

Abstract

Better understand how bimanual coordination evolves during the first weeks of natural recovery after stroke is needed to address bimanual rehabilitation. 15 stroke patients realized seven kinematic assessments once a week during six weeks and at three months. The grasping task was performed through 3D-movement analysis in three different conditions: unimanual with the non-paretic limb, unimanual with the paretic limb, and bimanual. Inter-limb coordination became efficient about 6 weeks after stroke, represented by a plateau phase. Bimanual coordination is optimized around this period of recovery, indicating a possible beneficial effect of bimanual rehabilitation. Moreover, inter-limb coordination recorded at movement onset and at movement goal did not evolve over recovery.