Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014:2014:457538.
doi: 10.1155/2014/457538. Epub 2014 May 22.

Action observation therapy in the subacute phase promotes dexterity recovery in right-hemisphere stroke patients

Patrizio Sale  1 , Maria Gabriella Ceravolo  2 , Marco Franceschini  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Action observation therapy in the subacute phase promotes dexterity recovery in right-hemisphere stroke patients

Patrizio Sale et al. Biomed Res Int. 2014.

Abstract

The clinical impact of action observation (AO) on upper limb functional recovery in subacute stroke patients is recent evidence. We sought to test the hypothesis that training everyday life activities through AO coupled with task execution might activate the left hemisphere different from the right one. Sixty-seven first-ever ischemic stroke subjects were randomly assigned to receive upper limb training coupled with AO tasks or standard rehabilitation. The groups were matched by age and gender, Bamford category, and interval from stroke and lesion side. Fugl-Meyer (FM) and Box and Block Test (BBT) were used to measure hand function recovery at the end (T1) and 4-5 months after the treatment (T2). At T1, FM was increased by 31% (± 26%), of maximum achievable recovery, whereas BBT was increased by 17% (± 18%); at T2, FM had reached 43% (± 45%) of maximum recovery, while BBT had reached 25% (± 22%). Combining the effects of treatment to those of lesion side revealed significantly higher gains, in both FM and BBT scores, in left hemiparetic subjects when exposed to AO as compared to standard rehabilitation alone (P < .01). The findings lead to recommend the use of AO in addition to motor training in left hemiparetic patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort 2010 flow diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sale P, Lombardi V, Franceschini M. Hand robotics rehabilitation: feasibility and preliminary results of a robotic treatment in patients with hemiparesis. Stroke Research and Treatment. 2012;2012:5 pages.820931 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wallace AC, Talelli P, Dileone M, et al. Standardizing the intensity of upper limb treatment in rehabilitation medicine. Clinical Rehabilitation. 2010;24(5):471–478. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Franceschini M. Clinical rehabilitation needs the translation from basic neuroscience in daily practice. The European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. 2012;48(1):87–89. - PubMed
    1. Franceschini M, Agosti M, Cantagallo A, Sale P, Mancuso M, Buccino G. Mirror neurons: action observation treatment as a tool in stroke rehabilitation. The European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. 2010;46(4):517–523. - PubMed
    1. Franceschini M, Ceravolo MG, Agosti M, et al. Clinical relevance of action observation in upper-limb stroke rehabilitation: a possible role in recovery of functional dexterity. A randomized clinical trial. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. 2012;26(5):456–462. - PubMed

Publication types