NCT06884709

Activity-based Mirror Therapy for Lower Limb Motor Recovery, Balance, Gait, and Mobility in Acute Inpatient Stroke: A Feasibility Study

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Glasgow Caledonian University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This feasibility study is the first step of a larger effects study exploring the use of an activity-based mirror therapy program for people who have had a stroke in the last 30 days and are in the hospital. The study aims to examine features of the study design as well as the preliminary effects of the mirror therapy program on motor recovery, balance, gait, and mobility. In this study participants will complete 15 minutes of lower limb mirror therapy three days per week for two weeks, alongside their usual physiotherapy. The motor recovery, balance, gait, and mobility of participants will then be reassessed. Participants will also be invited to complete a short questionnaire and interview about their experience in the study. Stroke physiotherapists that are involved in the study will also complete a questionnaire and interview to provide feedback on the study and it's design.

Detailed description

This study will recruit participants that are inpatients at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. Participants will be screened according to eligibility criteria. For example, participants must be between 72 hours and 30 days post-stroke at the time of baseline assessment and have hemiparesis or hemiplegia of the lower limb. After providing written informed consent, participants will receive activity-based mirror therapy for 15 minutes, three days per week for two weeks, in addition to 45 to 60 minutes of usual personalized conventional physiotherapy five days per week. The mirror therapy will be conducted by Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Doctorate of Physiotherapy (DPT) student Cassidy Flammang under the supervision of a qualified physiotherapist, while the conventional physiotherapy will be conducted by the qualified physiotherapists on the stroke rehabilitation ward. The mirror therapy sessions will involve the participants sitting in a chair with a back, arm rests, and optional side supports, with their hips, knees, and ankles positioned at 90°. A 60 cm X 165 cm mirror will be placed in the midsagittal plane so that the non-paretic limb is reflected. The participants will be instructed to view the reflection in the mirror whilst conducting activity-based exercises with the non-paretic limb. They will be further instructed to imagine that the reflection of the non-paretic limb is their paretic limb, but to keep their paretic limb still. The exercises will target all major lower limb movements, except hip extension as that cannot be addressed whilst seated. The exercises will consist of 10-15 repetitions each of the following: rocker board dorsi/plantarflexion, rocker board in/eversion, step ups, wiping floor (or ball rolling) in/external hip rotation, wiping floor ab/adduction, ball kicking, and picking up marbles with the toes. Participants may take up to one minute of rest between exercises. Participants will be informed that they can take breaks or skip exercises at any point. Lower limb motor recovery, balance, gait, and mobility will be assessed at baseline and upon completion of the two-week intervention. Mean differences will be determined to assess the change in test scores from pre- to post-intervention using a paired t-test, if normally distributed, or a Wilcoxon sign rank test if not. Both would have a significance level of p\<0.5. Participants and physiotherapists involved in the study will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire and semi-structured interview to discuss the study and mirror therapy program. The interviews will be audio-recorded, with consent, and conducted by GCU DPT student Cassidy Flammang. They will then be transcribed and analyzed by thematic content analysis.

Conditions

• Stroke

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Mirror Therapy	During mirror therapy, participants will sit in an arm chair with a mirror placed in their mid-sagittal plane so that their non-paretic lower limb is reflected and their paretic lower limb is hidden. They will be asked to complete activity-based exercises with their non-paretic limb whilst watching the reflection in the mirror and imagining the reflection is their paretic limb. The activity-based exercises consist of rocker board dorsi/plantarflexion, rocker board in/eversion, step ups, wiping floor (or ball rolling) in/external hip rotation, wiping floor ab/adduction, ball kicking, and picking up marbles with the toes. Participants will do these exercises for 15 minutes, three days per week for four weeks. Participants will also receive 45 to 60 minutes of usual personalized conventional physiotherapy such as neurodevelopmental facilitation, sensory motor re-education, active/active-assisted exercises, and balance/gait training, five days per week.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-04-04
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2025-03-19
• Last updated: 2025-03-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom