Motor Imagery Practice in Neurological Rehabilitation

An Integrated Motor Imagery Program in Rehabilitation - a RCT

Motor imagery is a technique widely used in learning skills. Its effectiveness has been proven in various sports and in musicians. A recent review (Braun et al. 2006) suggested that this technique may also be effective in rehabilitation of patients with neurological disease or damage, but that further research was needed.

The main purpose of this research is to discover whether motor imagery practice is beneficial in the rehabilitation of skills in patients who have some disability due to neurological disease or damage. The principal research question is: are physiotherapy and occupational therapy given incorporating motor imagery more effective than standard care (i.e., the same therapies but without integrated motor imagery) in re-training task specific performance for patients with neurological disease or damage?

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participating in a rehabilitation program for problems arising secondary to disease or damage affecting the central nervous system (usually stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis)
• Over 18 years of age
• Have sufficient language and memory skills to undertake the intervention (i.e. score positive on the first three items of the Sheffield screening test)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any co-morbidity that would interfere with the ability to perform imagery as judged by the clinician or from the medical notes (e.g., schizophrenia)