@Nigelglos
I’m glad you have connected with mirror box therapy
Am I right that your main focus is sensory rather than movement?
I’ve used it twice for movement and I didn’t get on with it at all. But I place the reason for that clearly squarely on lack of explanation by the supervising therapist. The second time it was a PhD student who you would think would explain clearly
Mirror therapy is widely used in the phantom limb pain treatment. There’s an excellent YouTube of somebody with a missing leg following mirror therapy to reduce their pain. So I would guess there is good precedent for other sensory enhancements?
It has been proved that imagining doing something stimulates the same neurones as actually doing it. If the neurones that used to be there alive are now dead and we imagine something I guess there’s a hypothesis that new neurones will take over the role of being stimulated by imagination? it is important to imagine a rich task and achievement.
As a result of my second attempt to use mirror box of therapy I did actually do a little bit of searching around.
As you say it is important to put your reference hand out of sight behind the mirror. It’s also important (for movement but I can’t vouch for sensory stimulation) and something I found virtually impossible - to as far as possible not give it sense of touch stimulation, so that the willing suspension of disbelief or the imagining of the mirror view mapping to the achievements of the disabled hand is not broken.
I’m glad someone was able to identify coconut shells because I thought you were playing with half a scotch egg !
I think my physio has left me details which are all about movement, well 9 out of 10 are and exactly as you have said, that isn’t really my issue.
If I was designing the mirror box, my weaker left hand would be hidden from view as it is now. The bit I would include would be space so it was possible to do smaller movements without touching anything. The space isn’t quite big enough currently.
My fourth and little finger tend to tingle big time on touch. Yesterday I was sat there fascinated with those fingers on my right hand touching the table, seeing them in the image and not getting any unpleasant sensations. My brain couldn’t quite take it in, it felt all new.
I found I had to tilt my head over quite a lot to avoid seeing my right hand. Every now and again with an exercise I couldn’t help looking at my right hand but the ones where I fully bought into the image being my left were very interesting.
One of the exercises was lining up 6 different sized buttons and later picking them up. That really messed with my mind as well. So still firmly looking at the image, I kept moving my good hand in the wrong direction to pick them up.
Sometimes you get exercises and activities which are a bit of a chore but I am genuinely interested to do this one. Who doesn’t like new things to try.
For the PhD study I kept detailed notes - and we had some discussions about aspects such as the reverse image and the perception of moving in one direction required compensating discounting or recalibrating for the fact that there were the mirror involved - but I don’t remember all the aspects of conversation .
I will have a look and if I think there’s something useful I’ll create a post.
I had quite a large mirror box that the student had self manufactured out of black gaffer tape and an acrylic mirror and some lightweight black plastic cardboard it was about a foot to a side and 2 ft long so I could put my arm in and mostly it was out of sight
I recommend searching YouTube for phantom limb pain & mirror box because you may get pointers that are useful and they won’t be about movement
You have had a lot of replies and I will read them later. I just add a couple of things I did.
I purchased a touch sensetive keyboard for my computer to replace the old one.
When I go for my morning walk I pick up a twig from the garden and all the time when walking I’m working it to death, tying to break it or at least twirl it through my fingers. If I drop it I can leave it where it fell since it is not rubbish and I’m breaking no law!
It is now nearly ten years since I had my stroke which did its best to wipe out my right side. I now can play guitar and keyboards again (Pretty badly but better than not at all) and walk without a stick.
Regards
Deigh
Deigh
Since research gate is actually quite a difficult site (ime) to get approved on and thus access to the text I’ve extracted a little (and paraphrased)
In a population of 31 patients where 15 were given passive therapies and 16 used mirror box the conclusions were:
Conclusions: In comparison with passive mobilization, mirror therapy in chronic stroke survivors with severely impaired upper-limb function may provide a limited but positive effect on light touch sensitivity while providing similar motor improvement. Clinical rehabilitation impact: Mirror therapy is a therapeutic approach that can be used in the rehabilitation of severely impaired upper limb in chronic stroke survivors, specifically to address light touch sensitivity deficits.
Hey, Mikey
There are some sharp utensils there, be careful!
Here’s my workout of the day
Click until you are taken to the video.
it’s fun to do ; now I will try with little dry beans
Have fun, ciao, Roland
Just as an update, after chatting with the physio, decided to give this up, at least for now.
Maybe it would have helped my hand but when my face, arm, hip, leg, ankle are burning or are in outright pain, stiffness, numbness, what benefit would there be in just my hand improving…
So I have decided to spend the time I was spending on mirror therapy on desensitizing my hand and arm.
Using a massage oil and a moisturiser, either individually or combined. Time will tell if it helps
That you tried is important and you have learnt something from it. I’m finding that exercises even when they are " useful " need to be also at the right time in the journey
It’s possible that you’ll come back to it usefully later
@Nigelglos i think prioritising different aspects of recovery is a good idea. Sometimes you have to deal with the bigger issues that then enable us to come back to focus on other things.
Good luck with the desensitisation I really hope it works swiftly for you.
I think I will eventually / possible go through this phase of recovery. I’ve talked about my paraesthesia in my foot, during a walk, being nothing other than a hyper-sensitivity to the increased circulation in my foot. Then my eyelid is hyper-sensitive, and certainly a case of “cross-wired” nerves… (what else feels like a wriggling worm i n the eye?). There are other areas too; around the edge of my right nostril. The sensation that does / is coming back also throws me. I can feel every micro movement in the ball of my affected foot sometimes, it feels like a golf ball glued to my heel.
My solution is to recount these odd sensations, and acknowledge them, rather than ignore them (though I try that too). Also to tell myself that my nerves are trying, and succeeding, and eventually the sensation will tone down and integrate. I keep telling myself this is a phase, and it’s far better than not feeling anything at all (which used to be the case). In short, it’s good, even if frustrating. A balanced and mindful approach is best. Any enhancement, or clever experimental activities are good, because it means I’m trying to make sense out of nonsense.
My physio this morning (she is effectively my central point and pulls in other members of the team) was saying that you should always do the movement on your good hand first. The idea being so you know what it feels like.
Concentrate on it and see if you can remember it/feel it, even if partly on your weaker limb/hand.
I have got a really odd issue when sat down in that I struggle to lift my weak leg+foot just a couple of inches upwards off the ground. I can easily lift it much further but just a couple of inches and no more is hugely difficult. I can see it trying to move but it never gets off the ground.
She told me to lift my good foot the same distance first and as if by magic for my weak leg, it’s dead easy.
Brains, just plain weird
Cheers
Nige
Yes, I identify, though perhaps not to the degree you recount. In such cases I empty my brain… prep. it for anything, free it, unclutter it, distract it perhaps
Think of lifting an arm then suddenly switch to a leg, so fast that you take your subconscious brain by total surprise. Over thinking in a predictable way is a no-no. It has to be a fresh, pure thought. That’s the way I train my brain to be fresh, pure, free of clutter, free from preconceptions…
Speaking of sensation: I seem to feel more like you do. The past couple of days, I have been wearing my grandson’s Croc’s. The official brand. I assume they are a big enough name most people will know them. The brand name are a bit different than the knock offs as they are rubber, vs. foam rubber and have small rubber spikes on the inner sole, assumedly for a massaging affect. They feel horrible on my feet, as the intensity of pain is hugely aggravated by them. After two days, I still feel it, but the sensation is much more pleasant. If I had not been too lazy to look for my own shoes, or my daughters soft slippers, I would never have put those awful things on my feet. Glad I did because I had given up on the sensation of anything other than supersoft being bearable again. I need to find a spiky rubber ball for my hand now for the same reason.
Yeh, that works as well.
It seems to be as long as it is not tensed up in prep for a move, then it allows the move.
Tense up in any way and it’s blocked
