Background and purpose: The effect of mirror therapy for unilateral neglect after stroke currently remains uncertain.
Methods: This systematic review investigated the effect of mirror therapy on neglect and daily living activities in patients with unilateral neglect after stroke when compared with no treatment, sham mirror therapy, or routinely applied therapies only. We performed a systematic electronic search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data to identify relevant randomized control trials (RCTs).
Results: We included five RCTs in the data synthesis. Mirror therapy (combined or not with other treatments) was more effective in improving neglect as compared with sham mirror therapy or no treatment (combined or not with the other therapies; standard mean difference [SMD] = 1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03-2.21, p < 0.00001). Mirror therapy (combined or not with other therapies) was effective in improving daily living activities as compared with sham mirror therapy or no treatment (combined or not with the other therapies; SMD = 2.09, 95% CI = 0.63-3.56, p = 0.005).
Conclusions: Our results show that mirror therapy effectively improves neglect and daily living activities in patients with unilateral neglect after stroke. Future trials with high methodological quality and larger sample sizes are needed to determine the immediate and long-term effect of appropriate mirror therapy protocol for unilateral neglect.
Keywords: mirror therapy; rehabilitation; stroke; unilateral neglect.
© 2021 European Academy of Neurology.