Mental Practice of Motor Skills Used in Poststroke Rehabilitation has Own Effects on Central Nervous Activation

Abstract

In the last years it has been shown that the use of the EMG triggered electrical myostimulation (ETEM) brings good results in poststroke rehabilitation. It has been hypothesized that the relearning effects obtained by means of ETEM are due to the reinstatement of proprioceptive feedback. However, the technique is most powerful if imagination of motor acts (the so called mental practice) is used as an initial part of ETEM. Since mental practice in healthy people leads to central nervous activation processes as well as to an improvement of motor skills, we investigated the effects of mental practice alone on central nervous activity by means of EEG in stroke patients.

Key Words:

• EEG
• stroke
• rehabilitation
• mental practice
• central nervous activation