EFFECT OF MENTAL IMAGERY ON LOWER LIMB FUNCTION IN SUBACUTE STAGE OF STROKE PATIENT; A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Objectives: To find out the role of mental imagery [visual] in sub-acute stage of stroke patient specifically considering function of lower limb. Material and Methods: An Experimental Randomized Controlled Trial was done. A total of 80 patients were taken by non-probability consecutive sampling technique and then randomly divided into 2 groups. One group was given just conservative treatment i.e, strengthening and balancing training and the other was given conservative treatment along with visual imagery. Later independent sample t test and paired sample t test were used. The duration of the study was 2 months from July to August 2018. Results: Results regarding within group comparison in mental imagery group showed that there was mean difference of 4.88±1.71 with significant difference having p-value 0.00, while those of for conservative group, mean, standard deviation and p-value were 3.96±1.48 and 0.090 respectively. Results regarding within group comparison of time up and go test for mental imagery group showed that there was mean difference of 4.44±1.35 with significant difference having p-value 0.000, while those of for conservative group, mean, standard deviation and p-value were 3.12±0.971 and 0.070 respectively. Conclusion: It was concluded that patients receiving conservative treatment along with visual imagery showed much better results than patients having conservative treatment alone. Keywords: Stroke, Mental imagery, Lower limb