Correlation Between Age of Stroke Patients and Mental Imagery to Improve Hand Function

Abstract

Mental imagery is the rehearsal of a physical task mentally, without execution of any physical task. The technique triggers the similar neurons (mirror neurons) of brain as are triggered by physical performance of the task. 
 Objective: To find correlation between age of stroke patients and mental imagery to improve hand function.Methodology: A sample of 50 patients was selected from DHQ hospital Jhelum. The inclusion criteria were as follows; age 55-75, gender (male and female), and stroke duration more than 12 months. Patients of age below 55 and above 75, patients with parietal stroke were excluded from study. Patients were treated with mental imagery technique for 10 weeks, P<0.05.Results: Both male and females were included in study. Sample consisted of 67% females and 33% male. Mean age of participants was 56.42 + 1.36. WMFT was used as outcome measure. Post treatment mean WMFT score was 57.9. Pearson Correlation was used to find out correlation between age and mental imagery outcome.
 Conclusions: It was concluded that no correlation is present between age and mental imagery ability of older adult stroke patients. Older adults were benefited with mental imagery technique and a significant improvement in hand function ofstroke patients was found.