Chief Neuro Rehabilitation Expert,
This study aims to determine motor synergy rehabilitation for upper limb functional recovery in stroke patients.
A 48year old male, apparently normal till June, 2016, had an acute onset of right sided hemiparesis and slurred speech. 2 years later he reported with inability to use the upper limb and difficulty in walking independently. He was a diagnosed case of left capsule-ganglionic bleed with accelerated hypertension. His participation limitations were inability to finger feed, drink his coffee, dress and groom selfand discontinuation of his job as an automobile salesman. He received motor synergy rehabilitation for 6 weeks.
At 6 weeks patient was able to perform scapular elevation and shoulder scaption up to 100° with isolated elbow and forearm movements. He re-learnt to release objects with wrist in neutral position with verbal cues. His ability to feel rough textures improved by 50% and silky texture by 40% (self-reported) throughout the limb except hand. He retrained to eat hard cut fruit, sip water from a glass with straw and comb hair with 20–25% assistance and rejoined his job once a week.
Muscle synergy rehabilitation can help to improve the functional use of upper limb in stroke.
Stroke, hand rehabilitation, motor synergy pattern correction, deep relaxation, multisensory stimulation, motor synergy rehabilitation
