Objective: To evaluate the mean treatment effect of mirror therapy on motor function of the upper extremity in patients with stroke.
Data sources: Electronic databases, including the Cochrane Library, PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase and CNKSystematic, were searched for relevant studies published in English between 1 January 2007 and 22 June 2017.
Study selection: Randomized controlled trials and pilot randomized controlled trials that compared mirror therapy/mirror box therapy with other rehabilitation approaches were selected.
Data extraction: Two authors independently evaluated the searched studies based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria and appraised the quality of included studies according to the criteria of the updated version 5.1.0 of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review of Interventions.
Data synthesis: Eleven trials, with a total of 347 patients, were included in the meta-analysis. A moderate effect of mirror therapy (standardized mean difference 0.51, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29, 0.73) on motor function of the upper extremity was found. However, a high degree of heterogeneity (χ2 = 25.65, p = 0.004; I2 = 61%) was observed. The heterogeneity decreased a great deal (χ2 = 6.26, p = 0.62; I2 = 0%) after 2 trials were excluded though sensitivity analysis.
Conclusion: Although the included studies had high heterogeneity, meta-analysis provided some evidence that mirror therapy may significantly improve motor function of the upper limb in patients with stroke. Further well-designed studies are needed.