Objectives. To evaluate whether combining mental practice with physical practice training enhances hand function in patients\nwith stroke. Methods. 10 for treatment and 10 for control were recruited for this pre/posttraining matched case control study. In\nthe treatment group, subjects underwent combining mental practice with physical practice for four weeks. In the control group,\nsubjects only participated in physical practice. Change of hand function and the number of activated voxels of the contralateral\nsomatosensory motor cortex (SMC) acquired by functional magnetic resonance imaging were measured. Results. After training,\nthe Action Research ArmTest score increased by 12.65 for treatment and by 5.20 for control.There was a significant difference in the\nAction ResearchArm Test score between the two groups (???? = 0.04).Theactivated voxels number of the contralateral SMCincreased\nin both groups, but the activated voxels number in the contralateral SMCand the improvement of hand function for treatment were\ngreater than for control. In the treatment group, the number of activated voxels of the contralateral SMC was positively correlated\nwith better hand function scores. Conclusions. Combiningmental practice with physical practice may be amore effective treatment\nstrategy than physical training alone for hand recovery in stroke patients.
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