White Cap

White cap

Imke, the researcher, puts a white cap on my head and two electrodes on my thumb. She tries to find the motoric centre at the left brain side in order stimulate movement of my thumb of the right hand. I hear a loud noise and suddenly my thumb starts moving. The electrodes are connected to a device which registers movement of the thumb. Imke does adapt the stimulus and verifies the reaction of the thumb.

How did I get here? Initially I was involved in a study from Wouter Vints, medical researcher at Adelante. I however had to stop my participation due to eye surgery (see blog ‘Lachspiegel’ about my retinal detachment). Wouter did connect me with Imke Hrycyk, researcher at the University of Hasselt. As I am always open to innovation regarding medical rehabilitation opportunities, we had a call to discuss the protocol requirements.

The goal of the study is to determine whether intensive stimulus of the motoric nerval system training thru Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) of the upper limbs improves the functioning of the affected arm or hand more than standard therapy. They also want to investigate whether changes of the nervous system occur (this is called plasticity) and whether this is better compared to standard therapy.

I did receive the Patient Information and decided to act as a volunteer of this pilot study. We made the appointments for 2 trial sessions. I headed to Hasselt and was welcomed by Imke. She explains in detail what we are going to do during the next 2 hours. I like her enthusiasm. My arms are positioned on a pillow to make things comfortable while sitting in my wheelchair. Through a white cap on my had she finds the location of the motoric part of the brain. Tack-Tack-Tack is the best way to describe the noise from the stimulator. My thumb starts moving. She varies the intensity and duration of stimuli. After 2 hours she is happy with the results.

A week later I return for the second session. A Swedish professor, interested in the study, just flew in and joins the team involved. The stimuli session takes place again and again things go well and results are obtained. I am looking forward to hear what the impact will be of this stimulation mode for cervical spinal injury patients who also suffer from the impact on hand movement impairment.

Before leaving I discuss possibilities to involve biometric students from Zuyd Hogeschool for the study. Imke reacts positive and I connect Dennis and Mark, teachers at Zuyd. The initial meeting did take place on June 16. I will keep you informed about the outcome and the results of the collaboration in another blog.