Effect of high-frequency mirror therapy for upper extremities after subacute stroke

• Published in: Fujita Medical Journal Vol. 4; no. 4; pp. 88 - 92
• Main Authors: Miyasaka, Hiroyuki, Kondo, Izumi, Ohnishi, Hitoshi, Teranishi, Toshio, Orand, Abbas, Sonoda, Shigeru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Fujita Medical Society 2018
• Subjects: High frequency; Mirror therapy; Stroke rehabilitation; Upper extremity
• ISSN: 2189-7247; 2189-7255
• DOI: 10.20407/fmj.4.4_88

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of high-frequency mirror therapy (MT) on the upper extremities of patients suffering paresis following subacute stroke. Altogether, 50 subacute stroke patients with upper limb paresis whose strokes had occurred within 30–60 days of the start of this study were enrolled. The patients were randomly divided equally into groups assigned to conventional therapy (CT) alone or to CT plus mirror therapy (MT). All patients underwent CT training 40 min daily for 4 weeks. The MT group patients then continued an additional 20 min of shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger MT, whereas the CT group continued with an additional 20 min of CT. Main outcome measures were the angles achieved during active shoulder flexion and abduction and wrist dorsiflexion, as well as upper-limb Fugl–Meyer Assessment (FMA) subscores.Results: For both the intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses, the MT group showed significantly more improvement in active shoulder flexion range of motion than did the CT group. The FMA scores improved from before to after the start of the study in both groups, with no significant differences between the two groups.Conclusions: Application of MT at a high frequency probably has a positive effect on improving shoulder function in these subacute stroke patients. Thus, frequent MT application is essential for alleviating stroke-induced paralysis.