Abstract:Background: Upper extremity function impairment is the most common and challenging sequelae of a stroke patients. Motor imagery and mental practice has been used in patients with sub – acute stroke.
Objectives: To find out the effectiveness of mental practice with motor imagery in improving upper limb motor function and to compare the effectiveness of mental practice with imagery to the conventional techniques in improving upper limb motor function.
Procedure: 30 stroke patients were included in this study and divided equally in two groups. Group A received mental practice with motor imagery session whereas group B received conventional exercise sessions. ARAT and TMD scores were taken before and after treatment.
Results: Paired’t’ test has been used to find the significance of study parameters within each group. Unpaired’t’ test has been used to find the significance of study parameters between the groups. The results of the study showed that there is a significant improvement in the upper limb function of stroke patients from both experimental and control group.
Conclusion: Mental practice with motor imagery improves upper limb motor function in stroke. However, mental practice with motor imagery cannot be considered as a better therapy option than physical practice. Hence, motor Imagery can be used as valuable supplementary approach in stroke rehabilitation.
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