Impact of unilateral and bilateral impairments on bimanual force production following stroke

Abstract

We studied how unilateral and bilateral impairments in stroke survivors affect their bimanual task performance. Unilateral impairments of the more-impaired limb, both weakness and loss of directional control, mainly contribute to bimanual asymmetry, but stroke survivors generally produce higher force with their more-impaired limb than their relative capacity. Bilateral force coordination was significantly impaired in stroke survivors, but its degree of impairment was not related to their unilateral impairments.