Mirror therapy enhances motor performance in the paretic upper limb after stroke: A pilot randomized controlled trial

This was still during the spontaneous recovery timeline so whatever recovery can be assigned to mirror therapy is totally unknown. Do these people not know how to setup clinical research trials?
http://search.naric.com/research/rehab/redesign_record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=J70054&phrase=no&rec=126294
NARIC Accession Number: J70054.  What's this?
ISSN: 0003-9993.
Author(s): Samuelkamaleshkumar, Selvaraj; Reethajanetsureka, Stephen; Pauljebaraj, Paul; Benshamir, Bright ; Padankatti, Sanjeev M.; David, Judy A..
Publication Year: 2014.
Number of Pages: 6.
Abstract: Study investigated the effectiveness of mirror therapy (MT) combined with bilateral arm training and graded activities to improve motor performance and reduce spasticity in the paretic upper limb after stroke. Twenty patients with first-time ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, confined to the territory of the middle cerebral artery occurring <6 months before the commencement of the study, were randomly assigned to the MT or control group. Both groups underwent a patient-specific multidisciplinary rehabilitation program including conventional occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy for 6 hours per day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. The participants in the MT group received 1 hour of MT in addition to the conventional stroke rehabilitation. Outcome measures included the Upper Extremity Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) for motor recovery, Brunnstrom stages of motor recovery for the arm and hand, Box and Block Test (BBT) for gross manual hand dexterity, and Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) to assess the spasticity. After 3 weeks of MT, mean change scores were significantly greater in the MT group than in the control group for the FMA, Brunnstrom stages of motor recovery for the arm and hand, and the BBT. No significant difference was found between the groups for MAS. Results indicated that MT combined with bilateral arm training and graded activities was effective in improving motor performance of the paretic upper limb after stroke compared with conventional therapy without MT.