Effects of mirror therapy on lower extremity motor function and activities of daily living after stroke: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective To meta-analyze the effect of mirror therapy on the lower limb motor function and activities of daily living of stroke survivors so as to evaluate its clinical efficacy. Methods Medline, PubMed, OT seeker, the Cochrane library, the Wanfang database, the VIP database and the CNKI were searched for reports of randomized and controlled trials (RCTs) of the effect of mirror therapy on the lower limb motor function and activities of daily living of stroke survivors published between December 2008 and December 2018. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, and the quality of the documents was comprehensively assessed according to version 5.1.0 of the Cochrane manual. The results were analyzed using version 5.2 of the RevMan software suite. Results Fourteen trials were included. Meta-analysis showed that mirror therapy had been shown to improve the patients′ scores of Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA), functional ambulance category (FAC) and modified Barthel index (MBI). Conclusion Mirror therapy can improve the motor function of the affected lower extremities of stroke survivors and their ability in the activities of daily living. Key words: Stroke; Mirror therapy; Lower extremities; Motor function; Activities of daily living; Meta-analyses