PERFORMANCE OF THE UNAFFECTED UPPER EXTREMITY OF ELDERLY STROKE PATIENTS

Background and Purpose The main objective of this study was to compare the sensorimotor performance of the unaffected upper extremity (LTE) of elderly stroke patients with that of healthy elderly people. Method s The group of stroke patients was composed of 43 hemiplegic/paretic s ubjects who had had a cerebrovascular accident at least 6 months earli er. They were greater than or equal to 60 years old, were right-handed before the stroke, had visual perception within normal limits, and sh owed no major cognitive impairments. A group of 43 healthy subjects ma tched for dominance, age, and sex was used for comparison. The main pa rameters of the performance of the unaffected UE of the stroke subject s and of the same side of the healthy subjects were measured with vali d, reliable instruments. Some variables potentially related to the una ffected UE were also measured: affected UE motor function, functional independence, length of time since the stroke, self-perceived health s tatus, activity level, and hand anthropometry. Results Statistical ana lyses showed significant deficits in the unaffected UE of hemiplegic/p aretic subjects compared with normal subjects with regard to the follo wing parameters: gross manual dexterity, fine manual dexterity, motor coordination, global performance, and kinesthesia (P<.01 to P<.0001). No significant clinical or statistical difference was found for grip s trength (P<.81), static and moving two-point discrimination (P=.21 and P=.12), or touch/pressure threshold (P<.91). Conclusions Many factors (frequency of use of the unaffected hand, sensorimotor interaction ta sks, severity of the deficits in corticifugal projections, and deficit s in postural stabilization) could interact to provide the clinical pi cture obtained in the present study.