Effectiveness of Mirror Therapy on the Motor Ability of Post Stroke Patients: Systematic Review

Abstract

The incidence of stroke is increased, and more than 50% of stroke patients suffer from upper limb disability, and 87% of motor damage to the upper limb occurs in the acute stage. About 30-60% of stroke patients never regain the motor function of the hands affected by a stroke, which can cause post-stroke patients difficulty in daily living activities. The purpose of this study is to systematically review research on the effectiveness of Mirror Therapy as a motor rehabilitation intervention in improving motor skills in post-stroke patients. A search strategy was applied to the Proquest and Science Direct database. The search results are then selected using inclusion and exclusion criteria. Only studies using quantitative methods were chosen of 155 articles found, 30 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were reviewed using an experimental design of 9 articles from 9 studies examined to prove that Mirror Therapy can improve motor function, especially upper extremity. In enhancing further research, it is necessary to determine the optimal training intensity and duration of improvement to survive and generalize to other functional domains. It also needs to pay attention to the number and homogeneity of the subject (age, sex, level of disability, and the onset of stroke) so as not to bias the research results.