Abstract
Objective
Mirror therapy (MT) is an approach of neurorehabilitation improving motor
functions after stroke. MT represents a mental process by which an individual rehearses
a given motor action by reflecting movements of the non-paretic side in a mirror as
if it were the affected side. Although a number of small-scale research studies have
shown encouraging results, there is no clear consensus about the effectiveness of the
therapy. The aim of this study is to investigate objective changes in EEG after MT.
Methods
A set of seven healthy volunteers carried-out five mirror-box training
sessions. The same training is carried-out twice a week with a patient with hemiparesis
for more than six months. The eleven channels of EEG placed over the sensorimotor and
left occipital cortex are recorded. In addition to the standard power spectral analysis
of EEG we decompose EEG into elemental components or ''atoms''. We estimate EEG
atoms using multiway parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) for modeling.
Results
Compering resting EEG prior and after training we found statistically
significant increase of the motor-related oscillatory mu-rhythm in a hemiparetic patient.
Atomic decomposition of EEG shows stable spatio-frequency components of motorrelated
synchronization and desynchronization of EEG in a hemisphere contralateral
to the mirror-box.
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