Article

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.
CI - (c) The Author(s) 2014.

Langue : ANGLAIS