Posted on October 25, 2001 at 10:09 a.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — A revolutionary therapy for stroke patients is now available clinically at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) as the Taub Training Clinic has officially opened its doors. The therapy, known as Taub Training, was developed by UAB neuroscientist Edward Taub, Ph.D., a professor of psychology. Taub Training has proven to be highly effective in restoring movement to the affected arms or legs of patients who have suffered debilitating strokes.
UAB held a grand opening on Wednesday, October 24, to mark the formal start-up of the clinic, located on the 7th floor of the Center for Psychiatric Medicine. Call (205) 975-9799 for clinic information.
In stroke patients who have suffered mild to moderate motor loss — about 75 percent of all stroke patients — Taub Training has been shown to be effective is restoring significant motor function in virtually every case.
“The vast majority of patients show greatly increased ability to perform the daily activities of living, such as writing, cooking or attending to personal hygiene,” says Taub. “The therapy will not necessarily erase a motor deficit and restore to the individual the degree of movement they had before the stroke, but it does provide for greater independence and an enhanced quality of life.”
In the immediate aftermath of a stroke, the severe trauma suffered by the brain can block a patient’s ability to move the arm or leg on one side of the body. As the months pass, the trauma lessens, releasing the block. During those months, however, Taub says that the patient ‘learns’ not to attempt to use the affected arm or leg, because it doesn’t work. Efforts to make it work are painful, futile, or even embarrassing.
Taub Training overcomes this effect, which Taub calls learned non-use, through the use of intensive, repetitive tasks performed many hours a day over many consecutive days.
In addition, Taub’s imaging studies have shown that the area of the brain that controls movement of an affected limb actually shrinks when sensory stimulation disappears following the stroke. Correspondingly, this area of the brain expands following Taub Training, as signals are once again received from the affected limb, triggering new connections.
“We restrain the patient’s unaffected, or good, hand in a mitt so they’ll concentrate on using the affected arm and hand,” says clinic manager Jean Crago, PT, MS. “We then have them perform a variety of tasks with the affected arm, such as picking up or stacking small objects, dialing a phone, writing, or using utensils to pick up objects that are similar to real food items.”
Patients undergo therapy for two or three consecutive weeks, exercising the affected limb for seven hours a day in tasks that mirror the activities of daily living.
“The key is repetition,” says Taub. “The evidence shows that extended, concentrated therapy spurs this change in the brain, allowing an affected limb to regain the ability to function.”
The clinic can currently accommodate 10 patients a day, with plans to double that capacity in a year. It maintains a staff of seven licensed professionals in physical or occupational therapy.