Mirror therapy has many implications for therapy and can be used to treat many diagnoses that commonly involve the upper extremity. These include some of the Neuro Conditions we highlighted last week including, Stroke and Focal Hand Dystonia. Btw, you can download a mirror therapy exercises pdf here for free.
How long should the patient perform mirror therapy exercises? Should there be a sequence of routines prior to performing mirror therapy? There is no simple answer and a wide range of dosing information along with frequency and duration for performing mirror box therapy.
Despite the variety in rehab regimes for mirror therapy, the majority of them have demonstrated positive effects. From the studies, a general protocol was developed know as the St. Gallen MT Protocol. The St. Gallen MT Protocol was tested on 52 patients. Of those, 42 out of 52 patients showed a reduction in pain, improved function, and no phantom sensations.
Here are some key highlights from the studies and the St. Gallen MT Protocol.
Keys to using mirror therapy in treatment
- Explain clearly how mirror therapy works, the patient must have the buy-in
- Perform mirror therapy in a quiet environment
- Set up a home program using mirror therapy (mirror therapy boxes) can be made out of cardboard boxes by gluing a handheld mirror on the side or you can fabricate a wooden one for under $15 (see below video below).
- Utilize a patient log for tracking mirror therapy exercises.
- Review patient log at follow-up therapy visits
Duration
- Home Program must be performed 5-6x/day,
- Each session should be no longer than 5-10 minutes
- Adapt exercise based on diagnosis
Grunert-Pluss, N., Hugschmid, U., & Santschi, L. (2008). Mirror therapy in hand rehabilitation: A review of the literature, the st gallen protocol for mirror therapy and evaluation of a case series of 52 patients, 13, 1, 4-11.
Supply list for making a mirror box (mirror therapy handout)
https://www.handtherapyacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/mirror-box-material-list-.pdf
Video on how to make a mirror box
2 Comments
Leave a Comment
More To Read
A Fun Fact from a Hand Therapy Student
By: Ammie Ingwaldson Level 2 Fieldwork at a hand therapy clinic is a fast paced and continuous learning experience. The perfect example of this occurred last week while observing a therapist provide a client with their home CMC arthritis program. The therapist was educating the client on how to oppose their thumb to their small…
Read More
Outcomes of Rigid Night Splinting and Activity Modification in the Treatment of Cubital Tunnel Syndrome
Shah, C. M., Calfee, R. P., Gelberman, R. H., & Goldfarb, C. A. (2013). Outcomes of rigid night splinting and activity modification in the treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome (night splint for cubital tunnel syndrome). The Journal of Hand Surgery, 38(6), 1125–1130.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsa.2013.02.039 By: Sophia Grimm The Skinny: The purpose of this study was to…
Read More
A randomized clinical trial comparing early active motion programs: Earlier hand function, TAM, and orthotic satisfaction with a relative motion extension program for zones V and VI extensor tendon repairs
By Brittany Day Collocott SJ, Kelly E, Foster M, Myhr H, Wang A, Ellis RF. A randomized clinical trial comparing early active motion programs: Earlier hand function, TAM, and orthotic satisfaction with a relative motion extension program for zones V and VI extensor tendon repairs. Journal of Hand Therapy. 2019. doi:10.1016/j.jht.2018.10.003 The Skinny- This is…
Read More
Taking Alpha-Lipoic Acid for 40 days after Carpal Tunnel Surgery can decrease the likelihood of developing Pillar Pain.
Filippo, B., Granchi, D., Roatti, G., Merlini, L., Sabattini, T., & Baldini, N. (2017). Alpha-lipoic acid after median nerve decompression at the carpal tunnel: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Hand Surgery, 4, 236–42. The Skinny – A double-blind, randomized controlled study was performed. Sixty-four patients were randomly assigned into two groups after median…
Read More
Sign-up to Get Updates Straight to Your Inbox!
Sign up with us and we will send you regular blog posts on everything hand therapy, notices every time we upload new videos and tutorials, along with handout, protocols, and other useful information.
I need help creating a similar box but the one I want has the mirror inside glued to box and has a 3 inch opening in the top wood above the mirror so you need to be standing up looking through opening to view the mirror and see your hand writing on paper (which of course will be reversed and challenging to even print your name.) I had one years ago and used it for children and Adults to learn about Dyslexia. Hoping you can help!
Sounds like a fun project. good luck and let us know how it turns out.