Quality of Movement and Spontaneous Use of The Affected Upper Limb In 8-Year-Old Infantile Hemiplegia After Applying Mirror Therapy. Case Series

Introduction: Children with hemiplegia is a type of Cerebral Palsy where the function of the upper limb is disturbed, with limitation of function in it. The affected hand common characteristics are slowness, abnormal muscle tone, decreased strength and coordination difficulties. And to these problems are often added sensitivity alterations and mirror movements. One of the main problems of hemiplegia is the alteration of bimanual manipulation Based on the concept of mirror neurons, Mirror Therapy (MT) is applied to increase the affected upper limb function.

Objective: To assess the increase in the quality of movement and spontaneous use of the affected upper limb in congenital infantile hemiplegia with 8 years old after applying a Mirror Therapy protocol.

Method: children (8 years old) diagnosed with right congenital infantile hemiplegia are recruited to execute a Mirror Therapy protocol for 5 weeks, 15 minutes per day. Two measurements are carried out for the variables of quality of movement and spontaneous use of the affected upper limb.

Results: Increased 5% for spontaneous use assessed with the Shriners Hospital Upper Extremity Evaluation, Shuee Evaluation and 6.5% for the quality of movement measured through the Quality of Upper Extremity Skills Test, Quest scale, produced by a higher score in the final situation of the dissociated movements (increase 11%).

Conclusion: Mirror Therapy performed in a time of 15 minutes per day for 5 weeks of treatment would allow improvements in spontaneous use and the quality of movement of the affected upper limb in children diagnosed with congenital infantile hemiplegia with an age of 8 years old.

Key words: Family; Mirror therapy; Physical therapy specialty; Infantile hemiplegia; House calls; Upper extremity