Effect of Brain-Computer Interfaced-Assisted Motor Imagery for Gait Retraining in Stroke Patients

Currently the process for stroke recovery is slow with majority of its treatments focused around physical therapy. Among the many methods employed to facilitate recovery in stroke, the use of motor imagery (MI) training may be beneficial towards stroke rehabilitation. In the current study, we propose 2 aims. Our first aim is to determine the feasibility and efficacy of a novel brain-computer interface-assisted MI train program (BCI-MI) in patients with chronic ischemic stroke. This is designed as a proof-of-concept study that only require a single-session trial. If patients successfully activate the BCI-MI system without much difficulty, our second aim is to enroll patients into a 4-week training program using the BCI-MI. Both functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) will be done to determine the effects of the 4-week training program. Subjects may potentially see improvements in walking gait as preliminary data from previous studies have demonstrated positive results.