Mimic-effect: Video Therapy Helps Stroke Patients

Main Category: Stroke
Article Date: 24 Jun 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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Video therapy, through which certain brain sectors are activated by visual stimuli, can help restore movement in patients suffering stroke-induced paralysis. That conclusion is part of a current study that researchers from Konstanz, Freiburg and Magdeburg, Germany, are presenting at the current meeting of the European Neurological Society (ENS) in Milan, Italy. This major meeting in European neurology gathers more than 2,900 experts from all over the world. The role played by brain mirror neurons is central in this context.

"The application of the mirror neuron system has extended into the field of stroke rehabilitation through mirror- or video-therapy," explained Professor Christian Dettmers (Konstanz). "By observing motion sequences stroke patients should overcome their paralysis more rapidly than with physiotherapy alone. Current literature has demonstrated that action observation exclusively or predominantly stimulates the non-affected hemisphere." The current German study, in which eight right hemispheric and eight left hemispheric stroke patients with hand pareses participated, shows that the mimic-effect goes beyond this, as verified by functional magnetic resonance imaging. "Cortical activation encompassed a symmetrical bilateral pattern: the affected hemispheres were stimulated to the same degree as the non-affected hemisphere. Our data clearly support applicability of video-therapy in stroke patients," Professor Dettmers concludes.

Abstract:
ENS abstract O85: Nedelko et al, Action observation and imagery conducted with stroke patients stimulate both hemispheres: the affected and non-affected.

Source
European Neurological Society

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