Investigation of the efficacy of mirror therapy in children with brachial plexus injury

The aim of our study is to investigate the effectiveness of mirror therapy, which is included in the treatment applied in the rehabilitation of children with brachial plexus injury. Children between the ages of 6 and 18 who were diagnosed with brachial plexus injury attending the rehabilitation center were included in our study.20 individuals with brachial plexus injury were randomly divided into two groups.Routine physiotherapy and mirror therapy were applied to the first group (n=10), and only routine physiotherapy program was applied to the second group (n=10).Both groups received 16 sessions of treatment.Before and after treatment,Active Movement Scale (AHS), Modified Mallet Scoring (MMS), Hand Grip Strength Measurement Test, Finger Grip Strength Measurement Test, Box and Block Test (KBT), Nine-Hole Peg Test (DDPT) and Joint range of motion measurementwere administered to individuals. The avarage age of all individuals in our study is 11.35±4.12 years.In intragroup comparisons, no change was detected in both groups in terms of range of motion values (p>0.05).In the mirror therapy group, after treatment,improvement was seenonly at the wrist range of motion values (p<0.05).Active movement scale values and modified mallet scores did not increase in both groups (p>0.05).While there was an increase in both hand grip strength and finger grip strength in the mirror group, there was an increase in only finger grip strength after treatment in the control group (p>0.05).Improvements were found in DDTT and CBT values in both groups (p<0.05).In the comparison between the groups, the mirror and control groups were found to be similar in all parameters after the treatment.In our study, no superiority was demonstrated for adding mirror therapy to the routine rehabilitation protocol.