Comparison of Priming Mechanism of Active Passive Bilateral Therapy and Mirror Therapy on Hand Function in Post – Stroke Patients: A Randomized Control study

BACKGROUND: Bilateral priming is a neuromodulatory technique that evolved from bilateral training, which can be used to balance excitability between the cortices before training on unilateral task. The Active Passive Bilateral Therapy & Mirror Therapy can be used as a priming technique to improve hand functions. Using Active Passive Bilateral Therapy can generate crossed facilitation between the non-paretic & paretic upper limb. Mirror therapy uses the motions of the unaffected side of the body, reflected in a mirror, as visual feedback. This visual feedback enables bilateral motor training and stimulates functional improvement of brain function. There are no studies to compare the effect of these two therapies as priming techniques to improve hand function in post stroke patients. Hence there is a need for this study. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effect of priming mechanism Active Passive Bilateral Therapy and Mirror Therapy on hand function in post stroke patients. DESIGN: Pre Test and Post Test Design with two comparison treatment. PARTICIPANT: 9 hemiparetic stroke patient, Department of Neurology and Stroke Rehabilitation center, PSG hospitals. INTERVENTION: GROUP A (n = 5) – Active Passive Bilateral Therapy and Training Activities. 15 repetition / 5 sets/ 60 minutes per day for 2 weeks. GROUP B (n = 4) – Mirror Therapy and Training Activities. 15 repetition / 5 sets/ 60 minutes per day for 2 weeks. RESULTS: All participant in Group A and Group B showed significant improvement in AFMUE with a mean value of 16.6 and 16.75 respectively. The calculated ‘t’ value using paired ‘t’ test for Group A and Group B were 6.12 and 6.99 (P<0.001) respectively. In ARAT, Group A and Group B showed significant improvement with a mean value of 27.4 and 29.5 (P < 0.001) respectively. When comparing between the group using independent‘t’ test, the AFMUE showed‘t’ value of 0.063 (P > 0.05), ARAT showed ‘t’ value of 0.5316 (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study was conducted to compare the effect of priming mechanism ...