Acute intermittent hypoxia in people living with chronic stroke – a preliminary study to examine safety and efficacy as a neurorehabilitation intervention

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground and PurposeAcute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) is a novel therapeutic intervention that has the potential to facilitate recovery of function, but its safety and efficacy have not been tested in people with stroke. The purpose here was to examine whether AIH is safe and effective in people with stroke.MethodsParticipants (n=10) with a unilateral, ischemic, hemispheric stroke were assessed before and following 4 sessions of AIH. Clinical tests and upper limb strength were assessed before, ∼15-30 minutes, and ∼60 minutes after the intervention.ResultsAIH was well-tolerated and there were no adverse events observed. Although no changes in strength were detected for the less-affected limb, grip strength and elbow flexion force of the more-affected limb was increased after AIH.ConclusionsAIH appears to be potentially safe and effective for improving strength in the more-affected limb in people with stroke. Future work should explore the use of AIH to enhance task-specific training-induced plasticity.