• Therapeutic Science for Rehabilitation
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2016

Objective: To illustrate effects and application potential of Mirror Therapy (MT) for patients with post-stroke hemiplegia. Method: With reference to 9 journals (published Jan.2005-Jan.2016) on Pubmed, selected based on in/exclusion standards. Result: Simple wrist/hand movements and task-based MT were used as intervention methods to examine the effects. Tools used to assess intervention effects included upper limb functioning, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), physical condition and quality of life. Upper limb functioning turned out to have significance for ADL with higher effectiveness at the distal than the proximal region. Yet the quality of life disparity between the experiment group and the control was not found to be significant. Conclusion: We believe that research can aid clinical therapists in applying MT accordingly to individual patient characteristics. Despite prolonged difficulty in confirming efficient application due to varied protocols, development of systemized treatment protocols for maximization of MT's effectiveness remains necessary.