Maintenance of Hand Motor Recovery Following Action Observation Treatment for Stroke

BACKGROUND & PURPOSE: The most common disabling motor decit following stroke is the loss of upper limb function. 5-20% of patients presenting an upper limb paralysis at onset may improve the motor impairment overtime. Action observation training is a novel rehabilitation approach exploiting this mirror mechanism and its potential role in motor learning for motor recovery. Aim of this study was to examine the effects of action observation therapy on upper limb functions in acute stroke patients. METHODOLOGY: Stroke survivors (N= 50) were consecutively recruited 22 days (±5) after a rst-ever stroke and participants watched video footage of daily routine tasks (actions). Each action based on some relevant ADLs motor sequence display in order of ascending difculty and lasting for 3 minutes and therapist prompted the patient to perform the same movement for 2 minutes. At the end of each sequence, patients were given conventional physiotherapy and AOT 1 hour daily for 5 days/week for 4 weeks. RESULTS: Upper Limb part of FMA, Modied Ashworth Scale scores & nine-hole peg test were taken at baseline and after 4 weeks as outcome measure. Paired 't' test and Wilcoxon's signed-rank has been used for analysis of Fugl Meyer scale, Modied Ashwarth Scale and Nine-hole peg pre and post treatment scores respectively (p value<0.05) So, a statistically signicant difference was found after treatment for all variables. CONCLUSION: The nding of this study is suggesting that Action observation training programs contribute to improve motor recovery in acute stroke patients.

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Effect of action observation therapy on daily activities and motor recovery in stroke patients

International Journal of Nursing Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.ijnss.2015.08.006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 279-282 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Mei-Hong Zhu ◽

Jing Wang ◽

Xu-Dong Gu ◽

Mei-Fang Shi ◽

Ming Zeng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Action Observation ◽

Motor Recovery ◽

Daily Activities ◽

Stroke Patients

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Action Observation Therapy for Upper Limb Recovery in Patients with Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11030290 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 290

Author(s):

Mauro Mancuso ◽

Serena Di Tondo ◽

Enza Costantini ◽

Alessio Damora ◽

Patrizio Sale ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Upper Limb ◽

Action Observation ◽

Functional Independence Measure ◽

Functional Independence ◽

Motor Recovery ◽

Control Group ◽

Stroke Patients ◽

Rehabilitative Treatment ◽

Subacute Stroke ◽

The Moment

Due to the complexity of the interventions for upper limb recovery, at the moment there is a lack of evidence regarding innovative and effective rehabilitative interventions. Action Observation Training (AOT) constitutes a promising rehabilitative method to improve upper limb motor recovery in stroke patients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential efficacy of AOT, both in upper limb recovery and in functional outcomes when compared to patients treated with task oriented training (TOT). Both treatments were added to traditional rehabilitative treatment. Thirty-two acute stroke patients at 15.6 days (±8.3) from onset, with moderate to severe upper limb impairment at baseline following their first-ever stroke, were enrolled and randomized into two groups: 16 in the experimental group (EG) and 16 in the control group (CG). The EG underwent 30 min sessions of AOT, and the CG underwent 30 min sessions of TOT. All participants received 20 sessions of treatment for four consecutive weeks (five days/week). The Fugl-Meyer Assessment for Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Box and Block Test (BBT), Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) were administered at baseline (T0) and at the end of treatment (T1). No statistical differences were found at T0 for inclusion criteria between the CG and EG, whereas both groups improved significantly at T1. After the treatment period, the rehabilitative gain was greater in the EG compared to the CG for FMA-UE and FIM (all p < 0.05). Our results suggest that AOT can contribute to increased motor recovery in subacute stroke patients with moderate to severe upper limb impairment in the early phase after stroke. The improvements presented in this article, together with the lack of adverse events, confirm that the use of AOT should be broadened out to larger pools of subacute stroke patients.

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