Longer Versus Shorter Mental Practice Sessions for Affected Upper Extremity Movement After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial
By Page, Stephen J.; Dunning, Kari; Hermann, Valeria; Leonard, Anthony; Levine, Peter; Clinical Rehabilitation, Volume 25, Number 7, pages 627-637Publication Date: July 2011
Study assessed the effect of 20, 40, and 60 minute mental practice (MP) following upper limb rehabilitation after stroke. MP is defined as a technique in which physical skills are cognitively rehearsed. Participants were 29 patients aged 21 to 76 years with chronic stroke exhibiting stable, mild hemiparesis, 23 of whom were male. All participants were administered 30 minute rehabilitative sessions occurring 3 days a week for 10 weeks, and emphasizing affected upper extremity use during repetitive task specific practice. Directly after these sessions, randomly selected participants were administered audiotaped MP for 20, 40, or 60 minutes. Participants assigned to a control group received an audiotaped sham intervention directly after therapy sessions. Main outcome measures were the Fugl-Meyer Scale (FM) and Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). No pre-existing differences were found between groups on any demographic variable or movement scale. On the FM, MP duration significantly predicted pretesting to post-intervention change, with increasing duration related to larger FM score increases, with a 5.4 score increase for the 60 minute duration group. On the ARAT, a non-significant trend was seen favoring the 20 minute dosing condition, showing a 4.5 point increase. Importantly, regardless of dosing condition, participants administered MP exhibited markedly larger score changes on both the FM and ARAT than those not receiving MP.
Published by: Sage Publications (Website:http://www.sagepub.com)
British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine (Web Site: http://www.bsrm.co.uk )
Link to text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257862/?tool=pmcentrez
