Effect of graded motor imagery on upper limb function and quality of life in stroke: A quasi-experimental study

The study determined the impact of a six-week graded motor imagery on improving upper limb function and quality of life in individuals with subacute to chronic stroke. Graded motor imagery is based on neuroplastic mechanisms.

In this quasi-experimental study, 20 hemiplegic participants with a three-to six-month duration of stroke were recruited. After recruitment all subjects received graded motor imagery for 6 weeks. At baseline and six weeks after the intervention, the Wolf motor function test and the Fugl-Meyer assessment scale were used for evaluation. Since data followed a normal distribution, a paired t-test was employed for statistical analysis.

FMA-UE showed a statistically significant improvement (p-value = 0.017) with an effect size of 0.5 following intervention. A small effect size was observed on WMFT and SS-QoL, although it was not statistically significant. The effect size for SS-QoL was 0.38, with the p-value of 0.102.

The present study showed that GMI could lead to improvements in both pain measured on FMA - UE scale and the motor abilities as measured on WMFT which may lead to improvement of upper limb functions. A small effect size was seen on the QoL scale, which concludes that a small but positive change was noted on the SS-QoL scale. Therefore the results should be interpreted carefully due to small sample size and short intervention period. Future studies with long term follow-up are required to confirm these findings.