Effect of Mirror Therapy on Unilateral Neglect for Patients After Stroke

Summary

This is a single-blinded randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of mirror therapy (MT), with reference to sham mirror (a glass wall) and control (a covered mirror), in reducing unilateral neglect for patients with stroke in 2 centres.

Conditions

• The Effects of Mirror Therapy on Patients With Unilateral Neglect After Stroke

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mirror therapy

A mirror is placed at the midsagittal plane of the patient. The patients in the mirror therapy group watched the mirror illusion of the non-affected arm in the mirror and moved together with the affected arm. The treatment programme for all groups consisted of 12 sessions (4 per week for 3 weeks), each lasting for 30 minutes. The movement practice involved 5 table-top tasks and the patient was instructed to perform as many trials as possible in each session with a maximum of 30 trials per task, giving a total of 150 trials per session. Treatment activities are graded according to the severity of the patient's upper extremity impairment.

BEHAVIORAL

Sham mirror

A transparent glass wall is placed at the midsagittal plane of the patient. The patients in the sham mirror group watched the movements of the affected arm through the transparent glass wall and moved together with the non-affected arm. The treatment programme for all groups consisted of 12 sessions (4 per week for 3 weeks), each lasting for 30 minutes. The movement practice involved 5 table-top tasks and the patient was instructed to perform as many trials as possible in each session with a maximum of 30 trials per task, giving a total of 150 trials per session. Treatment activities are graded according to the severity of the patient's upper extremity impairment.

BEHAVIORAL

Covered mirror

A covered mirror is placed at the midsagittal plane of the patient. The patients in the control group watched the movements of the non-affected arm and moved together with the affected arm behind the covered mirror. The treatment programme for all groups consisted of 12 sessions (4 per week for 3 weeks), each lasting for 30 minutes. The movement practice involved 5 table-top tasks and the patient was instructed to perform as many trials as possible in each session with a maximum of 30 trials per task, giving a total of 150 trials per session. Treatment activities are graded according to the severity of the patient's upper extremity impairment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Tung Wah Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Guangdong 999 Brain Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-07-01

Primary Completion

2017-09-30

Completion

2018-06-30