EEG-based assessment of upper limb motor impairment in stroke patients using Box and Block Test

Traditional clinical scales represent the most popular tools to evaluate upper extremity motor function in stroke patients. Among them, the Box and Block Test (BBT) assesses unilateral gross manual dexterity and is used in clinical environment to evaluate patient’s hand function in a quick and simple way. Being such scale highly operator-dependent, labor intensive and time-consuming, it is necessary to support it with additional quantitative and objective neurophysiological measures derived from EEG in the assessment of motor impairment induced by stroke. The objective of this study was to evaluate the BBT as an EEG-based assessment task for post stroke motor impairment by means of an advanced characterization of the brain activity underlying BBT execution in physiological condition and its pathological alterations, ultimately addressing a patient-specific neurorehabilitation.