Article

Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) are often profoundly slow in
their performance of physical tasks, as well as in motor imagery (MI). This may
limit the implementation and potential benefits of MI practice during
rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE:
The authors investigated whether the quality of MI
could be improved by external cueing. METHODS: Fourteen patients with PD and 14
healthy controls physically executed and visually imagined a goal-directed aiming
task and a box-and-block task, both in the presence and absence of visual and
auditory cues. Mental chronometry and eye movement recording allowed objective
evaluation of the temporal and spatial characteristics of MI when compared with
physical execution. Visual analogue scales were used to assess imagery vividness.
RESULTS: The presence of visual cues significantly reduced the patients'
bradykinesia during MI and increased their imagery vividness. CONCLUSIONS: Visual
cueing optimizes MI quality for PD patients and is a potential tool to increase
the efficacy of MI practice in PD rehabilitation.

Langue : ANGLAIS