Abstract：

Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability worldwide. The efficacy of most assistive technologies for reversing post-stroke motor impairment, especially for chronic survivors, has remained limited. A new technology that facilitates recovery at the level of general motor control beyond that achievable by standard care must be based on true biological mechanisms of control. We propose that one theory of how the CNS coordinates muscle activations can be the basis of a new rehabilitation strategy. There is strong evidence from recent optogenetics studies suggesting that CNS activates groups of muscles together as neuromotor modules - the rudimentary building blocks of movement. The CNS produces complex muscle patterns by flexibly combining several modules together. Here, we aim to use this modular framework to understand the complex muscle-pattern changes that underlie motor recovery in stroke survivors, and harness this knowledge to develop a new rehabilitation. Electromyographic activities (EMGs) from upper-limb muscles of stroke survivors were recorded, before and after intervention; motor modules were identified from the EMGs using specialized algorithms. Preliminary results from chronic survivors indicate that enhanced motor recovery is associated with the activation of a specific muscle synergy in the affected arm after rehabilitation - a “marker” of post-training recovery. Our results raise the possibility of providing rehabilitative training by facilitating the emergence of the marker module through muscle-signal feedback provided to the subject. Overall, our research may be a step towards developing a stroke rehabilitation with specific targets of intervention that is likely to significantly improve general motor control of the arm.
 
Resume：

A native of Hong Kong, Vincent Chi Kwan Cheung is at present an assistant professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an adjunct assistant professor at the Division of Biomedical Engineering of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He obtained his bachelor degree in Mathematics and Pharmacology & Therapeutics from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and subsequently, Ph. D. in Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering from MIT and the Harvard Medical School, and postdoc at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research of MIT. Over the last decade, Vincent’s research has focused on understanding how the nervous system controls voluntary movement and enables learning of motor skills.