Psychological models of motor control, although often developed by
work with people who have specific pathologies, have been contained very
much within the academic sphere of psychology. Physiotherapy and
methods of movement rehabilitation have also been developed within the
bounds of one profession. With the increasing trend towards working in
multidisciplinary settings the opportunity now exists more readily to cross
professional boundaries and integrate these two separate knowledge bases in
order that better rehabilitation programmes can be developed and in recent
years this has begun to happen.
With this in mind the research reported here set out to investigate the
motor function of stroke patients who have reached a plateau of motor
recovery, using dual task methodology. Two experiments were conducted,
one involving the "automatic" movement of walking and the other more
controlled hand and finger movements. In addition to information about
movement it was hoped to investigate whether there was evidence for more
than one central information processing system.
The results of the walking experiment were inconclusive because of a
number of methodological issues which are discussed. The results of the
second experiment indicate that there may be evidence for more than one
central information processing system. They also showed that in a dual task
situation stroke patients differentially allocate their cognitive resources in
favour of the movement task. These results are interpreted in terms of stroke
patients monitoring their movement more closely.
The, results are discussed in terms of a psychological framework of
movement control, and issues are raised about whether physiotherapists
could make use of this type of approach in developing movement
rehabilitation programmes for stroke patients.
Date of Award | 1993 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | |
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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE REHABILITATION OF MOVEMENT CONTROL IN STROKE PATIENTS
CONNOLLY, S. A. V. (Author). 1993
Student thesis: PhD