Effect of Body Representation in Movement
Condition: Stroke
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study explores the possible implications of the increase in perceived body size for
      rehabilitation of motor functions. In a recent study we have tested if motor abilities of
      patients with stroke improve wearing magnifying lenses, showing that a beneficial effect of
      magnifying lenses can be observed in some patients. In the present study, we will identify 12
      patients from this cohort who demonstrated an improvement greater than 10% in one or two
      motor task when wearing magnifying glasses. These participants will be invited to take part
      in a clinical study in which they will undergo a training phase: subjects will wear
      magnifying lenses at home for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle;
      a log will be kept to document participation. Participants' performance on different motor
      tasks will be assessed before, immediately after and 1 month after the training session.
      Standardized measures of motor performance will include the the Action Research Arm test and
      the Rivermead Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP). In addition, participants will
      undergo grip strength, finger tapping tasks and a reaching and grasping task. We expect the
      repeated use of magnifying lenses to generate an improvement of patients' performance across
      tasks and this effect to be persistent in time.
    

Detailed description: 
      Altering the apparent size of a body part with magnifying changes tactile acuity, tactile
      distance judgments and pain perception.

      In a recent study we have tested if motor abilities (grip strength, finger tapping and
      reaching and grasping) of patients with stroke improve wearing magnifying lenses. The results
      of this study showed that a beneficial effect of magnifying lenses on movement can be
      observed in some patients with stroke. The present study aims at following up these results
      and investigating the possible use of magnifying lenses in the rehabilitation to improve
      motor controls of stroke patients.

      To pursuit this aim, we will identify 12 patients in our previous study cohort who
      demonstrated an improvement greater than 10% in the grip strength or finger tapping task when
      wearing magnifying glasses. These participants will be invited to take part in the present
      clinical study in which they will undergo a training phase: subjects will wear magnifying
      lenses at home for 30 minutes daily for 14 days while completing a jigsaw puzzle; a log will
      be kept to document participation. Participants' performance on different motor tasks will be
      assessed before, immediately after and 1 month after the training session. Standardized
      measures of motor performance will include the the Action Research Arm test and the Rivermead
      Assessment of Somatosensory Performance (RASP). In addition, participants will undergo grip
      strength (6 trials), finger tapping tasks (6 trials) and a reaching and grasping task, inn
      which they will be asked to reach and grasp 3 different objects (30 trials). We expect the
      repeated use of magnifying lenses to generate an improvement of patients' performance across
      task and this effect to be persistent in time.
    

Intervention name(s): Magnification hand size; magnifying lenses
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Device
Intervention description(s): Participants will use magnifying lenses while completing a jigsaw puzzle for 30 min a day for 14 days.
Intervention model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment