• Robotic training therapy is a novel approach to rehabilitation of stroke survivors with chronic hemiparesis (Aisen et al. 1997; Finley et al. 2005; Krebs et al. 2007). Its purpose is to support the patient’s active but insufficient movement with forces that assist in the performance of purposeful motor sequences and may help the damaged motor system to re-establish voluntary movement ability. Robotic rehabilitation is open to more severely affected stroke patients than many traditional methods, because no voluntary movement is required to begin therapy.

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an innovative, non-invasive method that can stimulate the primary motor cortex, which is the principal output system of the brain for arm movement (Passingham 1993). TMS can thus be used to both probe and influence motor function. TMS may be combined with robotic rehabilitation to enhance the contribution of motor cortex to a goal-directed movement (Harris-Love and Cohen 2006, Profice et al. 2007).

• Bilateral arm training, as described in Stewart et al. (2006), is founded on behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms and shows great promise in expediting progress toward chronic stroke recovery in the upper extremity. The planning and execution of bilateral movements post-stroke may facilitate cortical neural plasticity (Garry et al. 2005). Research into the brain mechanisms underlying improved function after bilateral arm training have already begun (Luft et al. 2004), but the utility of bilateral training as a priming mechanism in short term interventions has yet to defined.