Bibliometric Analysis: Mirror Therapy as an Occupational Therapy Intervention Strategy in the Clinical Setting

Abstract

Objective: To determine the national and international scientific evidence regarding the use of mirror therapy, as an occupational therapy intervention tool in the clinical setting, in order to acquire knowledge and implement this strategy in professional practice. Materials and methods: A descriptive study was conducted in which the research strategy was held through medical subject headings (MeSH), such as “mirror neuron”, ”occupational therapy”, “physical rehabilitation” and “motor imagery”. Through the use of the bolean and combinations in five different databases were performed: Embase, Ebsco, OTseeker, Science Direct and Medline. The analysis was elaborated by establishing frequencies of different variables such as journal, country, study type and publish­ing year. Conclusions: In the evidence analysis it was found that mirror therapy is an interven­tion modality recently used by different rehabilitation professionals. Since 2004, an increase in the generation of high impact scientific evidence about this subject has been recognized, due in part to the reported effectiveness in clinical practices, mainly the treatment of health conditions secondary to stroke, limb amputations, chronic pain syndromes, and post-surgical rehabilitation. During the reviewed period, an increase in high level academic evidence was observed: 35.7 % of the analyzed publications correspond to randomized controlled trials and 42.9 % are system­atic reviews. The use of mirror therapy in occupational therapy is an intervention modality that facilitates functional rehabilitation processes, promotes independence in performing activities of daily living (adl) and allows social participation and environment adaptation processes to happen.

Keywords

• Mirror neurons
• Occupational therapy
• Physical rehabilitation
• Motor imagery