Laterality of performance in fingertapping rate and grip strength by hemisphere of stroke and gender.

Abstract

To determine whether individuals with unilateral cerebrovascular accident (CVA) have different motor abilities depending on hemisphere of lesion, we tested fingertapping rate (TAP) and grip strength (GRIP) in 20 right-handed right (R) and left (L) chronic CVA survivors and 19 right-handed age- and gender-matched controls. GRIP and TAP tests are common measures of motor function selected to distinguish rapid repetitive vs sustained performance. As expected, performance was significantly worse for contralateral-to-lesion arms than for control arms (p less than .001). Ipsilateral-to-lesion performance confirmed predictions of lateralized motor disabilities: R-GRIP in R-CVA survivors was inferior to R-GRIP in controls (p less than .05); L-TAP in L-CVA survivors was inferior to L-TAP in controls (p less than .01). In addition, male CVA survivors had the enhanced abilities predicted in the converse tests: R-TAP in R-CVA men was superior to R-TAP in controls (p less than .10); L-GRIP in L-CVA men was superior to L-GRIP in controls (p less than .01). It was concluded that individuals move differently depending on hemisphere of stroke, and some implications for the poststroke motor rehabilitation program were discussed.