Mirror Therapy Improves Hand Function in Subacute Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Abstract
Yavuzer G, Selles R, Sezer N, Sütbeyaz S, Bussmann JB, Köseoğlu F, Atay MB, Stam HJ. Mirror therapy improves hand function in subacute stroke: a randomized controlled trial.
Objective
To evaluate the effects of mirror therapy on upper-extremity motor recovery, spasticity, and hand-related functioning of inpatients with subacute stroke.
Design
Randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded, 4-week trial, with follow-up at 6 months.
Setting
Rehabilitation education and research hospital.
Participants
A total of 40 inpatients with stroke (mean age, 63.2y), all within 12 months poststroke.
Interventions
Thirty minutes of mirror therapy program a day consisting of wrist and finger flexion and extension movements or sham therapy in addition to conventional stroke rehabilitation program, 5 days a week, 2 to 5 hours a day, for 4 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures
The Brunnstrom stages of motor recovery, spasticity assessed by the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), and hand-related functioning (self-care items of the FIM instrument).
Results
The scores of the Brunnstrom stages for the hand and upper extremity and the FIM self-care score improved more in the mirror group than in the control group after 4 weeks of treatment (by 0.83, 0.89, and 4.10, respectively; all P<.01) and at the 6-month follow-up (by 0.16, 0.43, and 2.34, respectively; all P<.05). No significant differences were found between the groups for the MAS.
Conclusions
In our group of subacute stroke patients, hand functioning improved more after mirror therapy in addition to a conventional rehabilitation program compared with a control treatment immediately after 4 weeks of treatment and at the 6-month follow-up, whereas mirror therapy did not affect spasticity.
aDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
bDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
cDepartment of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
dIVth Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinic, Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
Reprint requests to Gunes Yavuzer, MD, PhD, Mustafa Kemal Mahallesi, Baris Sitesi 87, sokak No 24, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
ABSTRACT