New Perspectives in the Rehabilitation of Children With Motor Disorders : the Role of the Mirror Neuron System

June 23, 2014 updated by: Stefania Costi

Rehabilitation Strategies in Children With Neuro-motor Disorders Due to the Impairment of the Central Nervous System or the Peripheral Nervous System

Evidence exists that the activation of actions activates the same cortical motor areas that are involved in the performance of the observed actions. The neural substrate for this phenomena is the mirror neuron system. It is generally assumed that mirror neurons have a basic role in understanding the intentions of others and in imitation learning. There is evidence that action observation has a positive effect on rehabilitation of motor disorders after stroke. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that action observation followed by the repetition of the actions previously observed has a positive impact on rehabilitation of the upper limb in children affected by hemiplegia as a consequence of Cerebral Palsy. In particular, the purpose is to assess if mirror neurons could improve the amount, the quality and the velocity of movements and the cooperation between the two upper extremities.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Italy
      • Parma, Italy, 43100
        • Hospital of Parma
      • Pisa, Italy
        • IRCCS Stella Maris
      • Reggio Emilia, Italy, 42100
        • Azienda Santa Maria Nuova -

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

6 years to 12 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • children with hemiplegia and
  • Melbourne assessment > 50 points

Exclusion Criteria:

  • inability to collaborate
  • pharmacoresistant epilepsy
  • inability to imitate gestures
  • sensitivity disorders

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Action observation plus repetition
Observation of actions and repetition of the same actions
Other: action observation therapy
15 consecutive sessions of 18 minutes, plus repetition
Active Comparator: repetition only
repetition of gestures
Other: repetition of gestures
15 consecutive session of visual games, plus repetition of gestures

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Melbourne Assessment of unilateral limb function
Time Frame: T0=baseline, Tend (week three) , T2(two months) T6months (six months after the completion of the training)
T0=baseline, Tend (week three) , T2(two months) T6months (six months after the completion of the training)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Assisting Hand Assessment
Time Frame: T0, Tend, T2, T6
T0, Tend, T2, T6
Jebsen-Taylor
Time Frame: T0, Tend, T2, T6
T0, Tend, T2, T6
Abilhand emikids
Time Frame: T0, Tend, T2, T6
T0, Tend, T2, T6

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Stefania Costi

Collaborators

University of Parma
IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Rizzolatti Giacomo, Professor, University of Parma
  • Study Director: Ferrari Adriano, Professor, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 18, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 18, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

November 19, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 24, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 23, 2014

Last Verified

June 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MIRROR_UDGEE_09

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Cerebral Palsy

Clinical Trials on action observation therapy

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Zimbabwe

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe