The consequences for one's sense of agency of central and peripheral causes of loss of movement and/or sensation will be considered. In his purely motor stroke the neurologist Brodal described how attempts to move his weakened side led a huge sense of effort. He also found difficulties in the execution of complex movements, as though he had lost an unfolding motor programme.
After his acute loss of movement and position sense, due to a neuronopathy, IW initially lost an ability to focus intentionally motor commands. This recovered when he found how to consciously think of movements and to use visual supervision. His continued movement has required focus on both the action, moving his arm or leg, as well as the goal, reaching to an object, or walking, say.
In complete cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) movement and sensation are lost so that agency is severely reduced. A few subjects have had movement returned to their paralysed areas with functional electrical stimulation (FES). The control of this by subjects reveals intention divided between control of the FES and the goal of the action and how, in turn, FES movement can be elaborated into the body image. This flexibility in the ownership of action may indeed be shown in the relationship between a person with SCI and their personal assistant.