Grant: Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program

Many people who have had a stroke have problems recovering the use of their affected arm and these problems may persist for a long time. Our research will test new ways to boost recovery by using non-painful brain stimulation together with training of arm movements using basic science principles. The training program will be done using the latest technology in rehabilitation such as virtual reality and robotics. We will compare three groups of patients who have had a stroke. Each group will receive different combinations of brain stimulation and arm training. Another aspect of this proposal is that we will do the same training programs in three different countries - Canada, Israel and India. In this way, we will combine our knowledge and skills to create training programs that can be applied anywhere in the world and that are not necessarily limited to high-income countries. Also, by combining our expertise, we will help to build the capacity to do research in India, a middle-income country that has great potential to contribute new knowledge to rehabilitation medicine.