Abstract
Although around 83% of individuals survive a stroke, they usually experience a significant loss in their motor execution (ME) capabilities due to their acquired cortical infarction. The loss of significant ME capabilities due to stroke damage was previously thought to be irreversible. Active movement therapies show considerable promise but depend on motor performance, excluding many otherwise eligible patients. Motor imagery (MI), a process that involves the use of mirror neurons to imagine motor activity, has emerged as a possible avenue to re-acquire some physical abilities lost to stroke damage. This paper examines previous studies to compare the strength of brain activation and connectivity in individuals who have brain lesions and those who do not as they all attempt ME and MI tasks. This paper reviews case studies investigating the direct effect of motor imagery in conjunction with physical therapy and the limitations of motor imagery based on the location of cortical damage and other variables, such as age. The findings analyzed in this review indicate that MI would serve as a beneficial addition to physical therapy and a viable option to stimulate motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in individuals not capable of pursuing physical therapy due to severe motor impairment. Regardless of the presence of brain lesions, motor imagery has consistently had a positive impact on motor rehabilitation either in boosting treatment or stimulating neuromuscular pathways. Therefore, we have concluded that MI is a viable supplemental treatment plan for motor recovery in most patients with motor cortical atrophy.
Highlights
BackgroundOf the 795,000 people around the world who experience a stroke each year, about 658,000 survive [1]
There was a much smaller difference in activation between the controls and patients during motor imagery compared to motor execution. These results suggest that the cortical damage had a much smaller impact on Motor imagery (MI) than ME, showing that motor imagery is a viable method of activating cortical regions regardless of whether there are existing brain lesions
This review aimed to analyze whether motor imagery may be a viable motor rehabilitation treatment for individuals with motor cortical infarction
Summary
Of the 795,000 people around the world who experience a stroke each year, about 658,000 survive [1]. The results showed that even when there is stroke damage present and the movement of an area is lost, the neuromuscular pathway is not completely severed, a finding supported by Pool et al and Wang et al whose studies indicated that lesioned cortical areas will cause abnormal network activity during motor execution in patients, they have no significant effect on motor imagination [19,20]. These interactions were not observed during motor execution in patients, they were observed during motor imagery, indicating that lesioned cortical areas will cause abnormal network activity during motor execution in patients, it has no significant effect on motor imagination, a pattern that was observed in with brain activation in the Wang et al study as well. More investigation is needed on all fronts in order to determine what degree of brain damage compromises MI and what factors outside cortical damage, such as age, physical activeness, and genetic mutations(i.e. Huntingtons) may contribute to differences in MI potential
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