Abstract
A kinesthetic illusion induces a feeling as if an individual’s own body is moving during sensory input, even though the body is actually in a resting state. In a previous study, we reported that a visually induced kinesthetic illusion (KiNVIS) increases corticospinal tract excitability that is associated with activity of the motor-association regions. The present study explored the acute effect of KiNVIS on motor function in five patients who had experienced stroke, as a preliminary study. Five Japanese patients with stroke, who had been otherwise healthy, participated in the present trial. During KiNVIS, a display was set over the forearm so that the position of the display would give the illusion that the patient’s forearm was actually the same as that depicted in a movie. The movie showed a hand grasping and opening on the uninvolved side, and was repeatedly played for 15 min. Motor function was evaluated with the upper extremity section of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA-UE) as a primary outcome. Furthermore, we measured a performance of an appropriate motor task for each patient to detect change in motor function as a secondary outcome. In each patient, a positive effect on motor function was detected immediately after KiNVIS, and the appearance of reciprocal muscular control was observed in surface electromyography. There was no difference in the FMA-UE score between before and after the intervention; however, the score was slightly increased in two patients. Furthermore, upon comparison of the individual measurement results, each examination indicated positive changes in motor function. KiNVIS may have an acute positive effect in patients with stroke. The study provides, for the first time, evidence for the therapeutic potential of KiNVIS in stroke rehabilitation.
Highlights
We previously reported that a kinesthetic illusion, induced by a visual stimulus using a movie video (KiNVIS), produces vivid kinesthetic feeling in a healthy subject and in a patient with stroke, even though the body is in a resting condition [1,2,3]
The Surface electromyography (sEMG) from the flexor and extensor muscles decreased after KiNVIS therapy, and the sEMG value of the extensors increased while releasing a peg (Figure 3)
As there has been no study to date in which KiNVIS has been applied as a therapeutic approach to patients with stroke, we considered it necessary to perform a preliminary study prior to performing a systematic prospective study to examine the therapeutic effect of this approach
Summary
We previously reported that a kinesthetic illusion, induced by a visual stimulus using a movie video (KiNVIS), produces vivid kinesthetic feeling in a healthy subject and in a patient with stroke, even though the body is in a resting condition [1,2,3]. We showed, by functional magnetic resonance imaging, that a neural network is activated in the same brain regions during KiNVIS as is activated during actual movement execution [3]. Motor imagery describes the conscious and active psychological representation of movement. Motor imagery results in the activation of movement execution-related neural networks in healthy subjects [4,5,6,7]
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