title: Inadvertent recovery in communication deficits following the upper limb mirror therapy in stroke: A case report.
abstract: Broca's aphasia is the most challenging communication deficit in stroke. Left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a key region of the mirror-neuron system, gets lesioned in Broca's aphasia. Mirror therapy (MT), a form of action-observation, may trigger the mirror neurons. The aim of this study was to report a case of poststroke subject with Broca's aphasia, who exhibited an inadvertent and significant improvement in speech after MT for the paretic upper limb. The 20-month old stroke patient underwent MT through goal-directed tasks. He received a total absence of spontaneous speech, writing, and naming. After 45 sessions of task-based MT for the upper limb, he showed tremendous recovery in expressive communication. He had fluent and comprehensive communication; however, with a low pitch and minor pronunciation errors. He showed a substantial change (from 18/100 to 79/100) on the Communicative Effective Index, particularly, on items such as expressing emotions, one-to-one conversation, naming, and spontaneous conversation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped, 4 VD Marg, New Delhi 110002, India. Electronic address: kamalnarya@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Kamal Narayan
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Arya
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Institute for the Physically Handicapped, 4 VD Marg, New Delhi 110002, India.
authors.forename: Shanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pandian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000209:etiology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D013060:Speech; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D034941:Upper Extremity
keywords: Action-observation; Aphasia; Broca's area; Mirror neuron; Mirror therapy; Task-based therapy