Introduction
hand impairment, post-stroke, Stroke, stroke, chronic disability
STROKE, STROKE, CORTEX
Stroke is a leading cause of chronic disability worldwide in adults (Johnston et al. The use of brain imaging techniques for post-stroke follow-up is valuable for understanding the mechanisms of cerebral recovery. Functional MRI (fMRI) enables a precise study of distal upper limb movements; however, it is not used to study proximal movements because it requires strict immobility during the tests. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a non-invasive technique that assesses neural activation through the measurement of cortical oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations during motor tasks in a natural environment (Udina et al. An important further step in the use of fNIRS in activation studies would be to use this technology in patients with stroke in order to study neuroplastic changes. This implies to have concording methodological approaches and strong data in healthy individuals. Our study aims to contribute to this area of research by further investigating cortical patterns during these upper limb movements in healthy controls.As remapping of the sensorimotor cortex after stroke with hand impairment can involve the territory of the elbow or shoulder (Nudo and Milliken 