Research shows that exercising at home can improve arm and hand movement after a stroke. Unfortunately, it can be hard to exercise enough to make a difference in arm and hand movement after stroke. In this study, we will try to determine things that make it easy or hard to exercise the arm and hand after a stroke. In this study, we will recruit stroke survivors who are in therapy for arm and hand rehabilitation. First, we will administer surveys and questionnaires to get stroke survivors' perspectives on their self-confidence, mood, sleep, and more. Then, we will ask them to track their home exercise for 7 days using a wearable movement tracker (like a smart watch). After the 7 days of home exercise tracking, stroke survivors will meet with a researcher to talk about their experience doing home exercise and why they think it was easy or hard to do.
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between reflexes in the leg and the presence of neuropathic pain. The researchers are recruiting 30 individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) total, 15 individuals with neuropathic pain due to SCI and 15 individuals without neuropathic pain. For this portion of the study, there are 2 visits. The first visit will examine cutaneous reflexes in the leg. During the second visit, the study team will assess sensation in the leg and administer questionnaires about pain, functioning, and quality of life.
The purpose of the second part of the study is to examine the effect of reflex training in the leg to decrease neuropathic pain. For this, the researchers are recruiting 15 individuals with neuropathic pain due to spinal cord injury to participate in the reflex training procedure. The study involves approximately 50 visits with a total study duration of about 6.5 months (3 months for baseline and training phases followed by 1 month and 3 month follow-up visits).
People who experience a stroke often have problems performing many different tasks during daily life. Most studies investigating stroke recovery and rehabilitation focus only on one type of task. The purpose of this research study is to measure individuals' function in many areas that can be affected by a stroke, such as their balance, mood, memory, reaching, and speech. This study will also track changes that can occur with task performance over time.
VERIFY will validate biomarkers of upper extremity (UE) motor outcome in the acute ischemic stroke window for immediate use in clinical trials, and explore these biomarkers in acute intracerebral hemorrhage. The central hypothesis is that patients have different UE outcomes depending on corticomotor system (CMS) function, measured as motor evoked potential (MEP) status with TMS, and on CMS structure, measured as acute lesion load with MRI. VERIFY will create the first multicenter, large-scale, prospective dataset of clinical, TMS, and MRI measures in the acute stroke time window.