TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of a Mirror-Induced Visual Illusion on a Reaching Task in Stroke Patients
T2 - Implications for Mirror Therapy Training
AU - Selles, Ruud W
AU - Michielsen, Marian E
AU - Bussmann, Johannes B J
AU - Stam, Henk J
AU - Hurkmans, Henri L
AU - Heijnen, Iris
AU - de Groot, Danielle
AU - Ribbers, Gerard M
N1 - © The Author(s) 2014.
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - BACKGROUND: Although most mirror therapy studies have shown improved motor performance in stroke patients, the optimal mirror training protocol still remains unclear.OBJECTIVE: To study the relative contribution of a mirror in training a reaching task and of unilateral and bimanual training with a mirror.METHODS: A total of 93 stroke patients at least 6 months poststroke were instructed to perform a reaching task as fast and as fluently as possible. They performed 70 practice trials after being randomly allocated to 1 of 5 experimental groups: training with (1) the paretic arm with direct view (Paretic-No Mirror), (2) the nonparetic arm with direct view (Nonparetic-No Mirror), (3) the nonparetic arm with mirror reflection (Nonparetic Mirror), (4) both sides and with a nontransparent screen preventing visual control of paretic side (Bilateral-Screen), and (5) both sides with mirror reflection of the nonparetic arm (Bilateral-Mirror). As baseline and follow-up, patients performed 6 trials using only their paretic side. Primary outcome measure was the movement time.RESULTS: We found the largest intervention effect in the Paretic-No Mirror condition. However, the Nonparetic-Mirror condition was not significantly different from the Paretic-No Mirror condition, while the Unaffected-No Mirror condition had significantly less improvement than the Paretic-No Mirror condition. In addition, movement time improved significantly less in the bimanual conditions and there was no difference between both bimanual conditions or between both mirror conditions.CONCLUSION: The present study confirms that using a mirror reflection can facilitate motor learning. In this task, bimanual movement using mirror training was less effective than unilateral training.
AB - BACKGROUND: Although most mirror therapy studies have shown improved motor performance in stroke patients, the optimal mirror training protocol still remains unclear.OBJECTIVE: To study the relative contribution of a mirror in training a reaching task and of unilateral and bimanual training with a mirror.METHODS: A total of 93 stroke patients at least 6 months poststroke were instructed to perform a reaching task as fast and as fluently as possible. They performed 70 practice trials after being randomly allocated to 1 of 5 experimental groups: training with (1) the paretic arm with direct view (Paretic-No Mirror), (2) the nonparetic arm with direct view (Nonparetic-No Mirror), (3) the nonparetic arm with mirror reflection (Nonparetic Mirror), (4) both sides and with a nontransparent screen preventing visual control of paretic side (Bilateral-Screen), and (5) both sides with mirror reflection of the nonparetic arm (Bilateral-Mirror). As baseline and follow-up, patients performed 6 trials using only their paretic side. Primary outcome measure was the movement time.RESULTS: We found the largest intervention effect in the Paretic-No Mirror condition. However, the Nonparetic-Mirror condition was not significantly different from the Paretic-No Mirror condition, while the Unaffected-No Mirror condition had significantly less improvement than the Paretic-No Mirror condition. In addition, movement time improved significantly less in the bimanual conditions and there was no difference between both bimanual conditions or between both mirror conditions.CONCLUSION: The present study confirms that using a mirror reflection can facilitate motor learning. In this task, bimanual movement using mirror training was less effective than unilateral training.
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=eur_pure&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:000340728100005&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS
U2 - 10.1177/1545968314521005
DO - 10.1177/1545968314521005
M3 - Article
C2 - 24553103
SN - 1545-9683
VL - 28
SP - 652
EP - 659
JO - Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
JF - Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
IS - 7
ER -