Mental practice effect on line-tracing accuracy in persons with hemiparetic stroke: a preliminary study

Area of Science:

• Neurorehabilitation
• Motor control after stroke
• Cognitive-motor interventions

Background:

• Hemiparetic stroke often impairs fine motor skills, affecting activities of daily living.
• Line-tracing accuracy is a common measure of upper extremity motor function post-stroke.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of mental practice in enhancing line-tracing accuracy for individuals with hemiparetic stroke.
• To assess the generalization of improvements from horizontal line tracing to curved line tracing.

Main Methods:

• A single-case experimental design with a multiple baseline across participants was employed.
• Three participants with right hemiparesis received mental practice training for line tracing.
• Line length error, measuring deviation from a printed line, was the primary outcome measure.

Main Results:

• Mental practice led to a reduction in mean line length errors for both horizontal and curved line tracing tasks across all participants.
• Improvements were observed in horizontal line tracing accuracy post-intervention.
• Generalization of improved accuracy to the curved line tracing task was also noted.

Conclusions:

• Mental practice is a viable and effective intervention for improving line-tracing accuracy in stroke survivors with hemiparesis.
• The findings suggest that mental practice training can yield generalized motor improvements.