Is it possible to use the Structural Dimension Analysis of Motor Memory (SDA-M) to investigate representations of motor actions in stroke patients?

Objective: To determine the feasibility of the Structural Dimension Analysis of Motor Memory (SDA-M), a method derived from sports psychology, in establishing the mental representations of complex movements in patients after stroke.Design: Case series of patients, with age-matched healthy controls.Setting: A rehabilitation nursing home.Subjects: Sixteen patients 3—26 weeks after their stroke, and 16 controls.Intervention: Each control had the SDA-M performed within a 10-day period. Each stroke patient had the SDA-M performed once. In the SDA-M the subject was asked to state for each of 10 actions involved in drinking from a cup whether it is functionally close to each of the other nine or not.Main measures: The raw data from the SDA-M were transformed through cluster analysis into Euclidean distances and tree diagrams to illustrate the internal representation of the action.Results: All subjects were able to perform the assessment. Healthy controls all had a similar set of Euclidean distances and tree diag...