Effects of robot assisted mirror therapy on motor function and cortical activation in patients with right hemisphere damage

Robot-assisted mirror therapy (MRT) is a cutting-edge rehabilitative treatment that combines mirror therapy and rehabilitation robots and can improve stroke patient participation in rehabilitation training. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of MRT training in patients with right-hemisphere damage (RHD). Fifty-three RHD patients were randomly assigned to the MRT (N = 17), passive movement (PM) (N = 19), or functional occupational therapy (FOT) group (N = 17) for 4 weeks of training. All three groups received conventional medication and rehabilitation therapy, along with 20 min of FOT. In addition, the MRT group underwent 10 min of MRT, the PM group received 10 min of PM training, and the FOT group underwent 10 min of additional FOT. Upper-limb motor function was evaluated by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Wrist and Hand (FMA-WH) before and after treatment. The daily life activities of the patients were evaluated with the modified Barthel index (MBI). Cortical activation was evaluated by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Compared with the PM and FOT methods, the MRT method more effectively improved the FMA-UE score, FMA-WH score and MBI. In addition, MRT is expected to improve cortical activation in patients.