NCT01016496

New Perspectives in the Rehabilitation of Children With Motor Disorders : the Role of the Mirror Neuron System

Rehabilitation Strategies in Children With Neuro-motor Disorders Due to the Impairment of the Central Nervous System or the Peripheral Nervous System

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (actual)
• Sponsor: Stefania Costi · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 6 Years – 12 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Evidence exists that the activation of actions activates the same cortical motor areas that are involved in the performance of the observed actions. The neural substrate for this phenomena is the mirror neuron system. It is generally assumed that mirror neurons have a basic role in understanding the intentions of others and in imitation learning. There is evidence that action observation has a positive effect on rehabilitation of motor disorders after stroke. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that action observation followed by the repetition of the actions previously observed has a positive impact on rehabilitation of the upper limb in children affected by hemiplegia as a consequence of Cerebral Palsy. In particular, the purpose is to assess if mirror neurons could improve the amount, the quality and the velocity of movements and the cooperation between the two upper extremities.

Conditions

• Hemiplegia
• Cerebral Palsy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	action observation therapy	15 consecutive sessions of 18 minutes, plus repetition
OTHER	repetition of gestures	15 consecutive session of visual games, plus repetition of gestures

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-09-01
• Primary completion: 2010-05-01
• Completion: 2010-11-01
• First posted: 2009-11-19
• Last updated: 2014-06-24

Locations

3 sites across 1 country: Italy