The Effectiveness of Mirror Therapy to Upper Extremity Rehabilitation in Acute Stroke Patients

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Phassakorn Klinkwan
Chalunda Kongmaroeng
Sombat Muengtaweepongsa
Wiroj Limtrakarn

Abstract

Rehabilitation is a crucial part of stroke recovery to help them regain use of their limb. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of long-term mirror therapy training with conventional rehabilitation therapy on neurological and recovery of the upper limb in acute stroke patients. In this randomized and assessor-blinded control study, 20 acute stroke patients were analyzed and allocated to a case (n = 10, 50.6 ± 17.90 years) and control group (n = 10, 55.9 ± 11.25 years). All the participants performed daily home exercises for 12 weeks. The patients in the control group were treated with Conventional Therapy (CT), and a group of cases was treated with Mirror Therapy (MT) alone program. The outcome measurements were assessed by a therapist blinded assessor using Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) upper extremity score, Brunnstrom recovery stages (BRS), Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Muscle Strength to evaluate upper limb motor function and motor recovery. Data were analyzed using Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare within-groups and between-group differences. The results revealed that, after 12 weeks of treatment, patients of both groups presented statistically significant improvements in all the measured variables (p-value < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the patients of the MT group had greater improvement in the proximal movement portion of the FMA upper extremity mean score change (15.8 ± 3.2 versus 10.0 ± 2.7, p = 0.002). While, there were no differences in other variables (p-value > 0.05). There were also no adverse events. It suggests that 12 weeks of MT training alone was likely to improve the upper limb's motor recovery and daily living activity in acute stroke patients than conventional therapy, if treated early.

Article Details

How to Cite
Klinkwan, P., Kongmaroeng, C., Muengtaweepongsa, S., & Limtrakarn, W. (2022). The Effectiveness of Mirror Therapy to Upper Extremity Rehabilitation in Acute Stroke Patients. Applied Science and Engineering Progress, 15(4), 5084. https://doi.org/10.14416/j.asep.2021.05.002
Section
Research Articles

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