blinded Randomized Controlled Trial Study

Overview

From 2000-2017, more than 375,000 military members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), according to the Department of Defense. TBI is a leading cause of motor impairment with nearly 50% of TBI patients suffering with upper -extremity motor function. Due to a need for more personalized rehabilitative treatments, the goal of this study was to evaluate a combined approach of 1) targeted High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS), a non- invasive brain stimulation that de livers currents to excite and reconnect neurons, and 2) MusicGlove, an FDA -approved wearable glove that requires patients to make various finger movements in accordance with music notes appearing on a screen. It was hypothesized that hand dexterity can be improved in individuals with chronic TBI by combining HD-tDCS with MusicGlove exercises. Fourteen individuals with chronic TBI and hand weakness underwent 10 sessions of MusicGlove training for 45 minutes combined with either active or sham HD -tDCS. Functional outcome measures were collected before and after intervention using the Box and Block Test (BBT), MusicGlove Speed Test, and MusicGlove Dexterity Test. The between -group differences in the change score (baseline to post) of the Dexterity test were statistically significantly higher in the active group [T=2.74, p=0.022] . However, there were no observed statistically significant between-group differences in the change scores of Speed test, nor BBT, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that the HD -tDCS and MusicGlove training can potentially improve hand dexterity in people with acquired brain injury.