Depending on the severity of a stroke, it is possible that motor function of the upper limbs could be affected in the long term. Recovering from a stroke involves the process of rehabilitation in order to restore function to the damaged motor system of the upper limbs. Some are left with no function, while others manage to work themselves through rehabilitation to a near complete restoration. In a study that seeks to provide beneficial scientific knowledge on the functional reorganization of the motor cortex after a devastating shock to the brain such as a stroke, Nowak, Bosi, Podubecka & Carey found that rTMS could be used to help facilitate beneficial neural plasticity in the cortical motor system. Their study was published in the Journal of Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, and presents results that claim cortical excitation provided by rTMS can induce changes within the broader cortical network that go great lengths to improving motor coordination after a stroke.
These results are pretty powerful support of rTMS as a treatment method for stroke patients. While I was at first a little skeptical of the methods behind TMS (based on what we learned in class), there is no denying its benefits when reading results like these. Nowak et al do not deny that their are several methodological and theoretical issues that need be addressed before this can be a fully effective treatment method, but I am interested to see what will come of this research (it was only published in 2010).
This post was very interesting! In a lot of my posts, I learned about the benefits and treatments that TMS could provide to a lot of impairments and psychological disorders, but I didn't come across anything about stroke patients. I can't wait to see with more research and experimenting, what TMS could do for stroke patients in the future.
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