Motor Imagery As A Tool For Stroke Rehabilitation Improvement

You doctor should know if this research rebuts this:Mental Practice With Motor Imagery Does Not Help In Stroke Recovery
And what's the difference between mental and motor imagery.  
 The newest one here:
http://handtutorblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/motor-imagery-as-a-tool-for-stroke-rehabilitation-improvement/
Motor imagery is a well known practice that refers to  mentally rehearsing  motor acts instead  of actual movement production.

 A recent study was conducted to evaluate the effect of motor imagery  on the performance of sit to stand (STS) and reaching to grasp (RTG) in patients with post stroke chronic hemiparesis.

 The study was also designed as a crossover intervention. The participants were 13 people with a mean age of  68.9  with chronic hemiparesis that were enrolled in the day center at the Bet-Rivka Rehabilitation Hospital in Petach Tikvah, Israel. Following 1 week of baseline measurements of the performance of STS and RTG, these functions were mentally practiced by the patients for 15 minutes three times a week for four weeks. Half of the subjects  practiced STS mentally, while the other half practiced the RTG imagery protocol. Then, the participants in each group switched over to practice the other function for the next 4 weeks. All of the sessions were performed under supervision according to a protocol that was established beforehand. Measurements of real performance took place two times before and two times immediately after each practice session. For STS, the Tetrax Balance System was the measure used to judge the speed of performance and the weight distribution between the legs. RTG was appraised by a “kinematic” glove which included speed variables of the hand.

The results of the study showed  a significant decrease  in the values of STS duration however weight distribution between the legs wasn’t  affected by the intervention. For RTG, a very significant improvement resulted both in the mean and the maximum reaching speed.

The conclusions reached by this study were that in individuals that have chronic hemiparesis, the practice of motor imagery   can positively affect real performance.

When physical therapy is indicated for stroke rehabilitation the TUTOR system has shown effective results. The HANDTUTOR, ARMTUTOR, LEGTUTOR and 3DTUTOR are ergonomic wearable physical therapy products together with powerful dedicated rehabilitation software. The system is designed for upper and lower movement dysfunction. The TUTORs are designed to allow stroke patients intensive exercises in an entertaining and challenging fashion. Physical and occupational therapists monitor the progress of the patient and then design a customized exercise program.

Fully certified by the FDA and CE the TUTORs are currently in use in leading U.S. and European hospitals and clinics. They can also be used at home through telerehabilitation.

See WWW.MEDITOUCH.CO.IL for further information.