{"title":"Case report: Exploring cortico-muscular coherence during Mirror visual feedback for deafferentation pain: a proof-of-concept study.","authors":"Shiori Segawa, Michihiro Osumi","doi":"10.3389/fnhum.2025.1525680","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Mirror visual feedback (MVF) has shown promise as a treatment for deafferentation pain following brachial plexus injury, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess MVF's effect on two patients with deafferentation pain by analyzing cortico-muscular coherence (CMC), a measure of functional connectivity between the brain and muscles.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Two patients with brachial plexus injuries performed wrist movements with and without a mirror, accompanied by electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG). CMC was calculated during each condition to determine changes in the sensorimotor network.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In Patient 1, CMC increased in the beta band in the extensor carpi radialis and surrounding parietal regions during the mirror condition. In Patient 2, beta-band CMC decreased in the compensatory muscle (biceps brachii) but increased in the primary muscle (flexor carpi ulnaris) when the mirror was used. These findings suggest MVF promotes sensorimotor integration, reducing pain intensity.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Mirror visual feedback (MVF) effectively enhances CMC in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex in the beta frequency band, accompanied by pain relief in the affected limb. This suggests that CMC analysis could refine deafferentation pain rehabilitation using MVF, providing a better understanding of its neural mechanisms and optimizing therapeutic outcomes. Our study underscores the potential of CMC as a valuable biomarker for monitoring and tailoring MVF interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12536,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","volume":"19 ","pages":"1525680"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11891155/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Human Neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1525680","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Mirror visual feedback (MVF) has shown promise as a treatment for deafferentation pain following brachial plexus injury, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to assess MVF's effect on two patients with deafferentation pain by analyzing cortico-muscular coherence (CMC), a measure of functional connectivity between the brain and muscles.
Methods: Two patients with brachial plexus injuries performed wrist movements with and without a mirror, accompanied by electromyography (EMG) and electroencephalography (EEG). CMC was calculated during each condition to determine changes in the sensorimotor network.
Results: In Patient 1, CMC increased in the beta band in the extensor carpi radialis and surrounding parietal regions during the mirror condition. In Patient 2, beta-band CMC decreased in the compensatory muscle (biceps brachii) but increased in the primary muscle (flexor carpi ulnaris) when the mirror was used. These findings suggest MVF promotes sensorimotor integration, reducing pain intensity.
Conclusion: Mirror visual feedback (MVF) effectively enhances CMC in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex in the beta frequency band, accompanied by pain relief in the affected limb. This suggests that CMC analysis could refine deafferentation pain rehabilitation using MVF, providing a better understanding of its neural mechanisms and optimizing therapeutic outcomes. Our study underscores the potential of CMC as a valuable biomarker for monitoring and tailoring MVF interventions.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience is a first-tier electronic journal devoted to understanding the brain mechanisms supporting cognitive and social behavior in humans, and how these mechanisms might be altered in disease states. The last 25 years have seen an explosive growth in both the methods and the theoretical constructs available to study the human brain. Advances in electrophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, psychophysical, neuropharmacological and computational approaches have provided key insights into the mechanisms of a broad range of human behaviors in both health and disease. Work in human neuroscience ranges from the cognitive domain, including areas such as memory, attention, language and perception to the social domain, with this last subject addressing topics, such as interpersonal interactions, social discourse and emotional regulation. How these processes unfold during development, mature in adulthood and often decline in aging, and how they are altered in a host of developmental, neurological and psychiatric disorders, has become increasingly amenable to human neuroscience research approaches. Work in human neuroscience has influenced many areas of inquiry ranging from social and cognitive psychology to economics, law and public policy. Accordingly, our journal will provide a forum for human research spanning all areas of human cognitive, social, developmental and translational neuroscience using any research approach.