Return of Motor Function in Hemiplegia

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Abstract
Ability to learn simple motor tasks involving the upper extremities was studied in 39 hemiplegic patients and 5 normal individuals. These tasks included rate of tapping, rate of elbow extension and flexion, rate of pronation and supination of the forearm and speed of elbow flexion. It was found that although the performance level may be decreased on the paretic side the ability to improve with practice may remain the same on both sides in the presence of a unilateral pyramidal tract lesion. The ability to learn on both sides is greater during the first 2 months after the onset of the disability. There is less chance of learning if the disability has been present longer than 2 months. Restitution of motor function following cerebral injury appears to occur chiefly during the first 2 months and is apparently not necessarily a learning process.