Virtual reality mirror therapy effect on upper limb motor function in patients after stroke

ABSTRACT Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine Department of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine Bachelor Degree of Physiotherapy VIRTUAL REALITY MIRROR THERAPY EFFECT ON UPPER LIMB MOTOR FUNCTION IN PATIENTS AFTER STROKE Physiotherapy Bachelor's Thesis The Author: Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine bachelor of Physiotherapy program student Lukas Janonis. Academic advisor: PhD. Ieva Eglė Jamontaitė, Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine Center of Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine. Keywords: Mirror therapy, virtual reality, stroke, upper limb motor function. The aim of research work: To compare virtual reality and conventional mirror therapy effect on upper limb motor function in patient after stroke. Tasks of work: 1. To evaluate virtual reality mirror therapy effect on upper limb motor function. 2. To evaluate conventional mirror therapy effect on upper limb motor function. 3. To compare motor function changes between conventional and virtual reality mirror therapy groups. 4. To investigate patient’s opinion on advantages and disadvantages of virtual reality and conventional mirror therapy methods. Materials and methods: A total of 20 subjects (55% men (n=11), 45% women (n=9)) who underwent rehabilitation at Vilnius University Hospital Santariškių klinikos, Rehabilitation, Physical and Sports Medicine Centre during the period from 2016 to 2017 were selected to participate in this study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the mirror therapy groups. All subjects received conventional physical therapy five times a week, for 30 minutes on average. The first research group consisted of subjects, who attended 15-minute virtual reality mirror therapy training sessions five times a week in addition to conventional rehabilitation. The second group received 15 minutes of conventional mirror therapy training five times a week and conventional rehabilitation. Upper limb motor function was assessed using Fugl-Meyer Scale, Wolf Motor Function Test, Box and Blocks Test. All subjects also completed a questionnaire, which was used to evaluate patient’s opinion on different mirror therapy methods. All statistical analysis was completed using “Microsoft Excel 2016” and “3.4.0 R” software. Results: The results of both groups have increased significantly during the course of this research. Although, results of Fugl-Meyer Scale, Wolf Motor Function Test, Box and Blocks Test results in both groups showed significant increase, the difference between group results were not significant (p>0,05). According to questionnaire data four out of five patients would choose virtual reality mirror therapy. Conclusions: During rehabilitation patients in both groups showed significant improvement in affected upper limb motor function- patients were able to complete test tasks with affected upper limb faster and with better quality (p0,05). Questionnaire results demonstrated, that 75%- the vast majority of patients would rather choose virtual reality mirror therapy. Majority of patients reported that virtual reality mirror therapy was more comfortable, interesting and made sense of affected limb movements more vivid, than conventional mirror therapy