Recommended Mirror Therapy Protocol Based on Supportive Existing Research in CVA Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

The purpose of this systematic review was to use existing research to extract a recommended protocol for mirror therapy during CVA rehabilitation. Articles included were published within the last 5 years, in English, had accessible full text versions of the articles, and involved an adult population of individuals 18 years and older. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were used by two certified occupational therapists to identify and screen studies to be included in the review. Individual searches were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, APA PsycInfo, and ProQuest databases on December 18, 2024, through January 5, 2025. The following search terms were used by both authors: “mirror therapy,” “intervention,” “occupational therapy,” “stroke OR CVA,” and “adults.” A total of 655 studies were identified, and after sorting for relevance/inclusion criteria, 23 were included. A total of 853 participants were in the included studies, mostly men with a mean age of 55.3. It was found that a minimum protocol of 72 minutes per week for 4 weeks with 15 sessions was an effective use of mirror therapy during CVA rehabilitation. The Fugl-Meyer was the most frequently used outcome measure used by the included studies. This review found moderate evidence to support the establishment of a minimum mirror therapy protocol to be utilized in CVA rehabilitation. However, mirror therapy is most effective when combined with other interventions such as cognitive therapeutic exercise, BoNT-A injections, electric stimulation, task-based mirror therapy, and video-augmented therapy.