The effectiveness of mirror therapy with repetitions on lower extremity motor recovery, balance and mobility in patients with stroke

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of mirror therapy using motor imagery training on lower extremity motor functioning, balance and mobility in the patients after stroke. Material and methods. A randomized, controlled trial (RCT). Rehabilitation institutes and hospitals. 56 patients with stroke were adventitiously assigned into two different groups i.e., “Group A” (experimental group) and “Group B” (control group). The mean age of Group-A was 50.67 ± 11.18 years and Group-B was 49.16 ± 10.28 years without volitional ankle dorsiflexion. The post-stroke patients under experimental group received the comprehensive rehabilitation therapy along with the MT for LE. Participants received MT near 30 minutes in a day,6 days a week and continued for up-to 6 weeks. Whereas, the post-stroke patients under control group received the placebo therapy along with comprehensive rehabilitation therapy. For motor recovery Brunnstrom stages were used, to assess spasticity the Modified Ashworth Scale was used, for functional ability the Functional Ambulation Category was used and balance was assessed by Berg Balance Scale. Results. The experimental group after intervention showed remarkable changes in FAC (mean difference = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.65-1.26, p = 0.000) and BBS (mean difference = 3.10, 95% CI = 3.21-4.88, p = 0.000) as contrasted to the control group. Conclusions. MT along with the conventional therapy is more effective to improve the balance, mobility and motor recovery as compared to only conventional rehabilitation therapy.

Keywords

• mirror therapy (mt)
• motor imagery training
• lower extremity (le)
• randomized controlled trial (rct)
• rehabilitation
• motor recovery
• spasticity
• functional ability
• balance