Neuroplasticity & Motor Recovery Flashcards

What is 'diaschisis' in the context of stroke recovery?

Answer: Temporary functional depression in brain areas remote from but structurally connected to the stroke lesion

Diaschisis refers to reduced function in brain regions anatomically connected to but distant from the stroke lesion, often reversible as the acute phase resolves and a target for rehabilitation.

Which principle of motor rehabilitation states that practicing real-world, goal-directed tasks produces superior neuroplastic changes compared to isolated, non-functional exercises?

Answer: Task-specific training principle

The task-specific training principle holds that meaningful, goal-directed practice best activates relevant neural circuits and produces the most durable neuroplastic changes and functional gains.

What characterizes Brunnstrom Stage 5 of motor recovery after stroke?

Answer: Decreasing spasticity with the emergence of isolated joint movements outside obligatory synergy patterns

Brunnstrom Stage 5 marks a critical transition in which spasticity begins to diminish and patients can perform selective joint movements outside the obligatory synergy patterns seen in earlier stages.

How do functional neuroimaging studies commonly demonstrate interhemispheric shifts following stroke?

Answer: Increased activation of the contralesional (unaffected) hemisphere during movement of the affected limb

fMRI studies consistently show increased recruitment of the contralesional hemisphere during affected limb tasks, reflecting compensatory neuroplastic reorganization after stroke.

What does research suggest about 'massed practice' versus 'distributed practice' in motor recovery after stroke?

Answer: Both are effective, but distributed practice with rest intervals tends to promote better long-term motor memory retention through neural consolidation

While massed practice can drive rapid short-term gains, distributed practice with rest intervals generally yields better long-term motor retention by allowing synaptic consolidation processes to occur.

The Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) is a standardized stroke outcome measure primarily designed to evaluate what?

Answer: Motor impairment and sensorimotor recovery graded according to synergy-based stages of post-stroke recovery

The Fugl-Meyer Assessment measures motor impairment in the upper and lower extremities using a hierarchical scoring framework grounded in Brunnstrom's synergy-based stages of motor recovery.

Which mechanism best explains the neuroplastic benefit of early mobilization after stroke?

Answer: Movement generates afferent sensory input and efferent motor output that activate neural circuits and promote activity-dependent synaptic plasticity

Early mobilization provides bidirectional neural signals—afferent sensory feedback and efferent motor activation—that stimulate neural circuits and drive the activity-dependent plasticity essential for motor recovery.