The Role of Sensory Impairments on Recovery and Rehabilitation After Stroke
Date
2025-03-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
Abstract
Purpose of Review The current review aims to address critical gaps in the field of stroke rehabilitation related to sensory
impairment. Here, we examine the role and importance of sensation throughout recovery of neural injury, potential clinical
and experimental approaches for improving sensory function, and mechanism-based theories that may facilitate the design
of sensory-based approaches for the rehabilitation of somatosensation.
Recent Findings Recently, the field of neurorehabilitation has shifted to using more quantitative and sensitive measures
to more accurately capture sensory function in stroke and other neurological populations. These approaches have laid the
groundwork for understanding how sensory impairments impact overall function after stroke. However, there is less consensus
on which interventions are effective for remediating sensory function, with approaches that vary from clinical re-training,
robotics, and sensory stimulation interventions.
Summary Current evidence has found that sensory and motor systems are interdependent, but commonly have independent
recovery trajectories after stroke. Therefore, it is imperative to assess somatosensory function in order to guide rehabilitation
outcomes and trajectory. Overall, considerable work in the field still remains, as there is limited evidence for purported
mechanisms of sensory recovery, promising early-stage work that focuses on sensory training, and a considerable evidencepractice
gap related to clinical sensory rehabilitation.
Description
This article was originally published in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-025-01407-9
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Keywords
Somatosensation, Stroke, Recovery, Neurorehabilitation, Proprioception, Tactile
Citation
Hoh, J.E., Semrau, J.A. The Role of Sensory Impairments on Recovery and Rehabilitation After Stroke. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 25, 22 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-025-01407-9