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. 2022 Oct 4:13:990618.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.990618. eCollection 2022.

Motor imagery and action-observation in neurorehabilitation: A study protocol in Parkinson's disease patients

Beatrice Rizzi  1 , Christian Nuresi  2 , Claudio Rovacchi  1 , Massimo Bacchini  1 , Federica Savi  1 , Lucia Falco  1 , Luca Schianchi  1 , Augusto Scaglioni  1 , Chiara Ciracì  1 , Cosimo Costantino  2 , Giovanni Buccino  3   4
Affiliations

Motor imagery and action-observation in neurorehabilitation: A study protocol in Parkinson's disease patients

Beatrice Rizzi et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Action Observation Treatment (AOT) and Motor Imagery (MI) represent very promising cognitive strategies in neuro-rehabilitation. This study aims to compare the effectiveness of the two cognitive strategies, taken alone or combined, in Parkinson's disease patients.

Material and methods: This study is designed as a prospective randomized controlled trial, with four arms. We estimated a sample size of 64 patients (16 in each treatment group) to be able to detect an effect size of F = 0.4 with a statistical significance of 0.05. Primary outcomes will be functional gains in the FIM and UPDRS scales. Secondary outcome measure will be functional gain as revealed by kinematic parameters measured at Gait Analysis.

Discussion: The results of this trial will provide insights into the use of AOT and MI, taken alone or combined, in the rehabilitation of Parkinson's disease patients.

Ethics and dissemination: The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Don Gnocchi Foundation. The study will be conducted in accordance with the 1996 World Medical Association guidelines and according to good clinical practice. The study has been registered on clinicaltrial.gov under the following code: AOTPRFDG. Dissemination will include both submission of the study to peer-reviewed journals and discussion of the study protocol at conferences.

Keywords: Parkinson's disease; action observation; motor imagery; neurorehabilitation; study protocol.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study protocol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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