NCT06998485Recruiting
Substrates for Post-Stroke Arm Rehabilitation
Defining the Neurological Substrates of Proximal Upper Extremity Motor Control and Recovery After Stroke
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 11 Mar 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Difficulty moving the arm is very common and a major cause of disability after stroke. Although rehabilitation therapies (i.e., occupational and physical therapy) are the most common treatments used to improve arm motor function, it remains unknown how therapy actually changes brain pathways after stroke. This project seeks to generate fundamental knowledge about brain pathways that allow people to move their arm after stroke and how these pathways change with rehabilitation; we expect this knowledge to translate to new therapies to reduce stroke-related disability. We plan to enroll N = 50 patients with moderate to severe difficulty moving their arm after ischemic or hemorrhage stroke during the subacute period (3 to 6 months post stroke) into either 30 hours over 6 weeks of Arm Basis Training (a protocolized form of occupational therapy targeting motor control) or usual care. We will perform kinematic motor assessments, neuroimaging, and neurophysiology before and after therapy in order to test the hypothesis that intensive, target training improves arm motor control and induces corresponding anatomical and physiological changes of associated brain pathways.
- Status (registry)
- Recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 50 (estimated)
- First submitted
- 22 May 2025
- Start date
- 7 Oct 2025
- Primary completion date
- 30 Apr 2030
- Lead sponsor
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Diseases
- Stroke
- NCT number
- NCT06998485
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Planned participants: 50
- From 7 Oct 2025 to the primary completion date, 30 Apr 2030
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Other illness
- bilateral stroke
- pre-stroke upper extremity injury or conditions that limited use
- visual or auditory impairment limiting ability to participate in study procedures
- known history of uncontrolled seizure disorder.
Other
- unstable medical status affecting functional status
- significant aphasia (NIHSS sub-item 9 \> 1) or cognitive (NIHSS 1a or 1b or
- 1c \> 1) deficits
- known or expected inability to maintain follow-up through the study intervention and post- assessment
- contraindications to MRI
- contraindications to TMS
Who the study is looking for
- first time unilateral ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke occurring within the 3-6 months
- upper extremity motor impairment as measured by the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment (UE-FMA) Score \<= 44
- ability to participate in a 6-week intensive upper extremity intervention in English as determined by a licensed occupational therapist.
Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laboratory for Translational Neurorecovery, Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery, Massachusetts General Hospital Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Boston | United States | Recruiting |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.