Effect of motor imagery training on reaching in hemiplegic patients / Ayat Gamal Eldeen Saied Abdelgayed ; Supervised Eman Samir M. Fayez , Magdy Khalaf Massoud , Islam M. Abdallah Alazab

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Physical Therapy Department for Neuromuscular Neurosurgery

Background: Stroke is one of the most well-known reasons of physical disability around the world, about 80% of individuals who have had a stroke have some level of difficulty moving one side, or suffer from weakness on one side of their bodies. Mental imagery is a technique by which physical performances can be cognitively rehearsed in a safe, repetitive manner.It has been applied to stroke patients in a rehabilitation program to promote upper-extremity motor function and to overcome the case of neglect. The use of the mental imagery technique in the relearning of everyday task performance has not been widely recognized. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of motor imagery training on reaching performance in hemiplegic patients.Methods: Thirtyhemiplegic patients from both sexes participated in this study and randomly divided into two equal groups; the control group (A), received selected physical therapy program only and the study group (B), received the same program in addition to motor imagery training(MIT). The physical therapy program was conducted three times per week, for one month. Both groups were evaluated before and after therapy byproximal upper extremity subscales of Fugl Meyer Assessment (FMA-UL) and by 2-dimensional analysis of Kinovea software to determine shoulder and trunk flexion angles, area between the trunk, shoulder and wrist, average angular velocity and maximum horizontal distance patient can reach. The results: the result of this study showed that there was a significant improvement (P< 0.05) in FMA-UL score, shoulder flexion angle, area between the trunk, shoulder and wrist, average angular velocity and maximum horizontal distance in the study group (B) when compared with the control group (A)Conclusion:Motor imagery training has a positive effect on2reaching performance3 in hemiplegic patients

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