Relative independence of upper limb position sense and reaching in children with hemiparetic perinatal stroke

Studies using clinical measures have suggested that proprioceptive dysfunction is related to motor impairment of the upper extremity following adult stroke. We used robotic technology and clinical measures to assess the relationship between position sense and reaching with the hemiparetic upper limb in children with perinatal stroke. Prospective term-born children with magnetic resonance imaging-confirmed perinatal ischemic stroke and upper extremity deficits were recruited from a population-based cohort. Neurotypical controls were recruited from the community. Participants completed two tasks in the Kinarm robot: arm position-matching (three parameters: variability [Var ], contraction/expansion [Area ], systematic spatial shift [Shift ]) and visually guided reaching (five parameters: posture speed [PS], reaction time [RT], initial direction error [IDE], speed maxima count [SMC], movement time [MT]). Additional clinical assessments of sensory (thumb localization test) and motor impairment (Assisting Hand Assessment, Chedoke-McMaster Stroke Assessment) were completed and compared to robotic measures. Forty-eight children with stroke (26 arterial, 22 venous, mean age: 12.0 ± 4.0 years) and 145 controls (mean age: 12.8 ± 3.9 years) completed both tasks. Position-matching performance in children with stroke did not correlate with performance on the visually guided reaching task. Robotic sensory and motor measures correlated with only some clinical tests. For example, AHA scores correlated with reaction time (R = - 0.61, p