Abstract
Problem statement: Mental Practice (MP) with motor imagery consists of a method of training in which motor imagery is used to improve performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of MP with motor imagery on motor recovery of the paretic upper limb of post-stroke patients in comparison with MP with non-motor imagery. Approach: Four post-stroke patients were divided into two groups: experimental (the physical practice of motor tasks and MP of the same tasks: n = 2) and control (the physical practice of motor tasks and MP of non-motor tasks: n = 2). We evaluated: Heart Rate (HR) and systolic (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), immediately before and after execution and imagination of the tasks; time of execution and imagination of each task; and motor function of the paretic upper limb through the questionnaires “Fugl-Meyer for Upper Extremity” and “quality of movement section of arm motor ability test” before and after the 10 weeks of treatment. Results: The qualitative analysis showed that regardless of training, patients spent less time on imagery motor tasks than to execute them; and have increased in HR, SBP and DBP after execution as well as after imagery of motor tasks. The training caused a reduction in the time of execution of motor tasks in both groups and increment on the motor function of the paretic upper limb only in the experimental group. Conclusion: These results suggest that an MP with motor imagery may be an effective method for the functional recovery of the paretic upper limb of post-stroke patients.
Highlights
Motor skills require planning and programming before any physical practice
Patients in the control stroke patients in comparison with mental practice with group received training sessions that consisted of non-motor imagery
We showed that the experimental group increased Heart Rate (HR), SBP and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) after execution as well as after simulation of motor tasks compared with baseline
Summary
Motor skills require planning and programming before any physical practice. The motor system is responsible for production and by encoding the representational aspects of the movement, for example, the ability to mentally simulate an action. Motor Imagery (MI) originates from an internal model of movement, resulting from mental operations responsible for generating sequential actions or recalling from procedural memory in which the motor program is stored. In this context, MI is usually defined as a dynamic state during which the representation of a given motor act is internally rehearsed in working memory without any overt motor output process (Jeannerod and Decety, 1995; Sirigu and Duhamel, 2001). There are two different strategies of MI, visual and kinesthetic.
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