ENHANCE: Enhancing Brain Plasticity for Sensorimotor Recovery in Spastic Hemiparesis

Often, people who have had a stroke experience problems recovering the use of their arms, and the issue may persist for a long time. This research will test new ways to boost recovery using non-painful brain stimulation and personalized programs that train patients to use arm movements.

Personalized training programs

The training programs will use the latest technology in rehabilitation, including virtual reality and robotics. The research team will apply the same training programs in three different countries: Canada, Israel, and India. In this way, the research team will combine their knowledge and skills to create training programs that can be applied anywhere in the world.

Project objectives

More specifically, the project aims to:

-test the training programs' effectiveness at enhancing upper limb motor function in patients with subacute stroke

-determine the effects of repetitive brain stimulation aimed at inhibiting excessive or exciting diminished cortical activity on the control of spatial thresholds to decrease spasticity and improve the arm's motor function

-design personalized rehabilitation programs in high and low- to middle-income settings

-further develop the graduate training environment and international research collaboration among the partners

Project leadership

The project lead is Mindy F. Levin at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Her collaborators include Dario G. Liebermann at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and John Solomon Manikandan and Natarajan Vasanthan Rajagopalan at Manipal University, India.

Project funding

This project is funded through the first research competition of the Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Initiative. The Initiative is a collaboration between the Azrieli Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Israel Science Foundation, and Canada's International Development Research Centre.