Recognizable rehabilitation movements of multiple unilateral upper limb: An fMRI study of motor execution and motor imagery

Jun Ma; Banghua Yang; Wenzheng Qiu; Jian Zhang; Linfeng Yan; Wen Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2023.109861

Recognizable rehabilitation movements of multiple unilateral upper limb: An fMRI study of motor execution and motor imagery

J Neurosci Methods. 2023 May 15:392:109861. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2023.109861. Epub 2023 Apr 17.

Authors

Jun Ma¹, Banghua Yang², Wenzheng Qiu¹, Jian Zhang³, Linfeng Yan⁴, Wen Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, School of Medicine, Research Center of Brain Computer Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200441, China.
² School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, School of Medicine, Research Center of Brain Computer Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200441, China; Engineering Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Intelligent Rehabilitation, Ministry of Education, 201203, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: yangbanghua@shu.edu.cn.
³ Shanghai Universal Medical Imaging Diagnostic Center, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200441, China.
⁴ Department of Radiology & Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 710038 Shaanxi, China.
⁵ Department of Radiology & Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, 710038 Shaanxi, China. Electronic address: wangwen@fmmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37075914
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2023.109861

Abstract

Background: This paper presents a study investigating the recognizability of multiple unilateral upper limb movements in stroke rehabilitation.

Methods: A functional magnetic experiment is employed to study motor execution (ME) and motor imagery (MI) of four movements for the unilateral upper limb: hand-grasping, hand-handling, arm-reaching, and wrist-twisting. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) images of ME and MI tasks are statistically analyzed to delineate the region of interest (ROI). Then parameter estimation associated with ROIs for each ME and MI task are evaluated, where differences in ROIs for different movements are compared using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

Results: All movements of ME and MI tasks activate motor areas of the brain, and there are significant differences (p < 0.05) in ROIs evoked by different movements. The activation area is larger when executing the hand-grasping task instead of the others.

Conclusion: The four movements we propose can be adopted as MI tasks, especially for stroke rehabilitation, since they are highly recognizable and capable of activating more brain areas during MI and ME.

Keywords: Motor execution (ME); Motor imagery (MI); Region of interest (ROI); Statistical analysis; Unilateral upper limb tasks.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Brain / physiology
Humans
Imagination* / physiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Movement / physiology
Upper Extremity