Mirror Therapy for Facial Paralysis in Traditional South Asian Islamic Medicine

Abstract

Mirror therapy has stimulated a dynamic clinical and research agenda for the treatment of poststroke hemiparesis and phantom pain. The origins of mirror therapy are thought to lie with the end of the twentieth century. This article translates key sections on the use of mirror therapy for facial paralysis from Muhammad Akbar Arzānī, an influential practitioner of South Asian Islamic medicine. Given that his text appeared over a quarter millennium before Western accounts of mirror therapy, this article calls for an amendment to the historical record so that Arzānī is recognized.

Keywords:

• stroke
• mirror therapy
• Chinese mirror
• Muhammad Akbar Arzānī
• Islamic medicine

Notes

¹The following is my original translation of the Persian text that appears in Arzānī, 2001 on pages 47–48.