Functional synergy recruitment index as a reliable biomarker of motor function and recovery in chronic stroke patients
Author/s
Irastorza-Landa, Nerea; García-Cossio, Eliana; Sarasola-Sanz, Andrea; Brötz, Doris; Birbaumer, Niels; [et al.]Date
2021-05-18Keywords
Stroke
Motor function
Muscle synergies
Biomarker
Upper limb
Neurorehabilitation
Abstract
Objective. Stroke affects the expression of muscle synergies underlying motor control, most notably in patients with poorer motor function. The majority of studies on muscle synergies have conventionally approached this analysis by assuming alterations in the inner structures of synergies after stroke. Although different synergy-based features based on this assumption have to some extent described pathological mechanisms in post-stroke neuromuscular control, a biomarker that reliably reflects motor function and recovery is still missing. Approach. Based on the theory of muscle synergies, we alternatively hypothesize that functional synergy structures are physically preserved and measure the temporal correlation between the recruitment profiles of healthy modules by paretic and healthy muscles, a feature hereafter reported as the FSRI. We measured clinical scores and extracted the muscle synergies of both ULs of 18 chronic stroke survivors from the electromyographic activity of 8 muscles ...
Type
article