The Effect of Physical Exercise for Hemiparetic Stroke Patients Assessed by EEG and Motor Evoked Potential

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of physical exercise like gait training to the central nervous system of hemiparetic stroke patients through examining EEG, motor evoked potential (MEP) induced by transcortical magnetic stimulation and body balance. The subjects were 9 hemiparetic stroke patients who admitted to Tohoku University Hospital for rehabilitation within 3 months after a stroke onset. EEG was examined before, during and after walking in 10 m distance with maximum effort in each subject. MEP and body balance were measured before and 1 month after physical therapy. The value of relative power (ratio of the power in target band to total power) was calculated to analyze EEG in each hemisphere. During walking, there was significant decrease of the values of relative power in alpha band in the both hemispheres especially in the front-central area. Alpha attenuation in the front-central area of the both hemispheres during walking suggested general augmentation of the cortical activity associated with voluntary movement like the inhibition of mu rhythm. The beta activity increased in the injured hemisphere during walking and in the non-injured hemisphere after walking. These results suggested that walking had the effect of activating the brain function even after walk in the stroke patients. MEP did not change between before and after physical therapy. It showed physical exercise had no specific effect to activate the motor cortex. Center of pressure as a parameter of body balance was improved 1 month after physical therapy but it was also improved by one shot application of the electrical stimulation to the paretic lower limb. Therefore the effect of physical exercise for the central nervous system is similar to it of physical agent like electrical stimulation and it is supposed that such effect is general augmentation of the brain function.