Chapter 15: Seven Years of Good Luck

THE TAKEAWAY

1.        First discovered in 1991, Mirror therapy uses a simple mirror (usually placed between the arms or legs) to create an image or illusion that fools the brain into thinking that the affected arm or leg is moving correctly after stroke.

2.       Mirror therapy should be learned and added to any home rehabilitation program because it improves arm, leg, and sensory function.

3.       Mirror therapy is believed to work by activating mirror neurons, reigniting or recruiting motor pathways on the damaged side of the brain, and substituting visual for sensory information.

4.       The benefits of mirror therapy include the prevention of learned nonuse and the activation of visual and mental practices to stimulate neuroplasticity.

5.       Gold standard research evidence comes from well-designed systematic literature reviews that have concluded that mirror therapy has a benefit by improving arm, leg, and sensory function in stroke survivors.