Chronicity of Stroke Does Not Affect Outcomes of Somatosensory Stimulation Paired With Task-Oriented Motor Training: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.
Cheryl Carrico, Nicholas Annichiarico, Elizabeth Salmon Powell and 2 others
PMID 33543045WHAT IT FOUND
Time since stroke did not predict how much arm movement improved after paired sensory stimulation and task training in adults 3 to 12 months after stroke.
Both groups improved, and early versus later enrollment did not change the response.
Key findings
01Time since stroke did not predict pre-post change in WMFT, FMA, ARAT, or SIS for adults 3 to 12 months after stroke.
02Both the active stimulation group and the sham stimulation group received the same intensive task-oriented motor training and showed improvements on all four outcome measures after the 18-session program.
03Adjusting for severity and age did not change the result that time since stroke did not predict outcome changes.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The authors state that lack of statistical power is the primary limitation, and they say the null correlations could be due to small sample sizes. Some outcome analyses used 46, 49, or 50 participants instead of all 55 randomized participants. The analysis included only people 3 to 12 months after stroke, so it does not answer what happens before 3 months or after 12 months. People with severe aphasia or cognitive deficit severe enough to preclude consent were excluded. This was a secondary correlation analysis, not a test of whether active somatosensory stimulation was better than sham stimulation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that somatosensory stimulation caused the improvements. Both groups received intensive task-oriented motor training, and this analysis tested time since stroke, not active stimulation versus sham.