Non-use After Stroke: Influence of Applied Force and Precision When Reaching With the Paretic Upper Limb

NCT04747587 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 53

Last updated 2025-12-18

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

After a stroke, 80% of patients have an upper limb deficit, limiting activity. Some develop a non-use: they can, but do not, use their paretic limb. Non-use is a general phenomenon applied to all situations where the patient applies unnecessary compensation. Several rehabilitation techniques are effective to counter non-use, but there is insufficient knowledge to choose the most suitable technique. Optimal control theory could help guide these choices. It assumes that the chosen coordination satisfies the constraints of the task (force, amplitude, tolerance) while reducing the cost of the movement. This study will assess non-use by anticipating the sensitivity to the constraints of force and precision deduced from the logic of optimal control. The study authors expect to observe a weakness effect: in a reaching task (i.e. when the person has to touch an object placed in front of them), lightening the paretic arm makes it possible to reduce non-use, and a precision effect: in a reaching task, non-use increases with the required spatial precision.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Reaching Session

Two x 45 minutes sessions of reaching tasks. Patients in the stroke group will perform the task with the paretic arm using a weight reduction system, allowing movement in the horizontal plane. Subjects in the control group will perform the task with the randomly selected arm weighted at 80% of their maximum voluntary shoulder torque

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Jérôme Froger · Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2021-05-11
Primary Completion
2023-04-25
Completion
2023-04-25

Countries

  • France

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04747587 on ClinicalTrials.gov