A four-week, task-specific neuroprosthesis program for a person with no active wrist or finger movement because of chronic stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This case report describes a task-specific training protocol incorporating functional electrical stimulation for a person who had chronic stroke and who initially exhibited no active wrist or finger movement.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A 63-year-old man with hemiparesis caused by an ischemic stroke 7 years before the intervention described here received task-specific training incorporating an electrical stimulation neuroprosthesis 3 hours per day, 5 days per week, for 4 weeks. Testing was conducted before and after the intervention and again 6 weeks later with stroke-specific outcome measures.

OUTCOMES: Increases in function and quality of life were observed after the intervention.

DISCUSSION: An intervention incorporating task-specific training with functional electrical stimulation appears to have increased function and quality of life in a person with chronic stroke. This type of intervention might provide a pathway by which people with similar impairments would become eligible for more advanced treatment regimens, such as modified constraint-induced therapy.