Mirror training to augment cross-education during resistance training: a hypothesis

Howatson, Glyn; Zult, Tjerk; Farthing, Jonathan P.; Zijdewind, Inge; Hortobágyi, Tibor

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2013.00396

Cited by 35 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 130 publications

(263 reference statements)

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“…Based on neuroimaging data, a recent review by Deconinck et al (2015) [20] found that MVF-related neural activation patterns have substantial overlap with regions related to attention and action monitoring processes, both of which are strongly related to motor learning. Additionally and in line with another review on cross-education, increased neural activity of ipsilateral brain areas that are associated with the mirror neural system was reported in mirror training [6]. Since motor execution that is concurrently observed through a mirror (i.e., providing an illusion of movement of the contralateral hand, although not active) is a special kind of movement observation, it appears to be reasonable that the MNS could be involved [6, 7].…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Mirror Visual Feedback Training Improves Intermanual Transfer in a Sport-Specific Task: A Comparison between Different Skill Levels

2016

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Mirror training therapy is a promising tool to initiate neural plasticity and facilitate the recovery process of motor skills after diseases such as stroke or hemiparesis by improving the intermanual transfer of fine motor skills in healthy people as well as in patients. This study evaluated whether these augmented performance improvements by mirror visual feedback (MVF) could be used for learning a sport-specific skill and if the effects are modulated by skill level. A sample of 39 young, healthy, and experienced basketball and handball players and 41 novices performed a stationary basketball dribble task at a mirror box in a standing position and received either MVF or direct feedback. After four training days using only the right hand, performance of both hands improved from pre- to posttest measurements. Only the left hand (untrained) performance of the experienced participants receiving MVF was more pronounced than for the control group. This indicates that intermanual motor transfer can be improved by MVF in a sport-specific task. However, this effect cannot be generalized to motor learning per se since it is modulated by individuals' skill level, a factor that might be considered in mirror therapy research.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Mirror Visual Feedback Training Improves Intermanual Transfer in a Sport-Specific Task: A Comparison between Different Skill Levels

2016

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“…Somewhat surprisingly, recent work without a mirror showed that strength training of the unaffected limb is beneficial for the recovery of the impaired limb after stroke (Clark and Patten 2013;Dragert andZehr 2011, 2013), wrist fractures (Magnus et al 2013), and anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery (Papandreou et al 2013). The performance improvement in the contralateral homologous muscle of the nontrained limb following a period of effortful unilateral motor practice is referred to as cross-education (Farthing et al 2007;Hortobagyi 2005;Munn et al 2004;Zhou 2000), but there may be additional clinical benefits from the hypothesis that unilateral strength training with a mirror could augment the crosseducation of muscle strength (Howatson et al 2013;Zult et al 2014). Reduction in SICI observed in the present study could be one mechanism to explain how the use of a mirror increases the transfer effect reported in cross-education studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mirror illusion reduces motor cortical inhibition in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex during forceful unilateral muscle contractions

Zult

Goodall

Thomas

et al. 2015

Journal of Neurophysiology

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Forceful, unilateral contractions modulate corticomotor paths targeting the resting, contralateral hand. However, it is unknown whether mirror-viewing of a slowly moving but forcefully contracting hand would additionally affect these paths. Here we examined corticospinal excitability and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) of the right-ipsilateral primary motor cortex (M1) in healthy young adults under no-mirror and mirror conditions at rest and during right wrist flexion at 60% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). During the no-mirror conditions neither hand was visible, whereas in the mirror conditions participants looked at the right hand's reflection in the mirror. Corticospinal excitability increased during contractions in the left flexor carpi radialis (FCR) (contraction 0.41 mV vs. rest 0.21 mV) and extensor carpi radialis (ECR) (contraction 0.56 mV vs. rest 0.39 mV), but there was no mirror effect (FCR: P ϭ 0.743, p 2 ϭ 0.005; ECR: P ϭ 0.712, p 2 ϭ 0.005). However, mirror-viewing of the contracting and moving wrist attenuated SICI relative to test pulse in the left FCR by ϳ9% compared with the other conditions (P Ͻ 0.05, d Ն 0.62). Electromyographic activity in the resting left hand prior to stimulation was not affected by the mirror (FCR: P ϭ 0.255, p 2 ϭ 0.049; ECR: P ϭ 0.343, p 2 ϭ 0.035) but increased twofold during contractions. Thus viewing the moving hand in the mirror and not just the mirror image of the nonmoving hand seems to affect motor cortical inhibitory networks in the M1 associated with the mirror image. Future studies should determine whether the use of a mirror could increase interlimb transfer produced by cross-education, especially in patient groups with unilateral orthopedic and neurological conditions.

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“…Here, we operationally define the action observation network (AON), according to published work, as a bilateral fronto-parietal network that is activated when primates or humans observe biological actions (Buccino et al, 2001, Howatson et al, 2013) such as the focused observation of real or virtual hand motion (Perani et al, 2001, Suchan et al, 2007, Chong et al, 2008a, Chong et al, 2008b, Adamovich et al, 2009). Parietal regions comprising the AON have been shown to be involved in transcallosally communicating with frontal areas for visuomotor remapping (Blangero et al, 2011, Pisella et al, 2011, Zult et al, 2014), and to modulate activation of M1 (Koch et al, 2009, Grefkes and Fink, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network interactions underlying mirror feedback in stroke: A dynamic causal modeling study

Saleh

Yarossi

Manuweera

et al. 2017

NeuroImage: Clinical

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Mirror visual feedback (MVF) is potentially a powerful tool to facilitate recovery of disordered movement and stimulate activation of under-active brain areas due to stroke. The neural mechanisms underlying MVF have therefore been a focus of recent inquiry. Although it is known that sensorimotor areas can be activated via mirror feedback, the network interactions driving this effect remain unknown. The aim of the current study was to fill this gap by using dynamic causal modeling to test the interactions between regions in the frontal and parietal lobes that may be important for modulating the activation of the ipsilesional motor cortex during mirror visual feedback of unaffected hand movement in stroke patients. Our intent was to distinguish between two theoretical neural mechanisms that might mediate ipsilateral activation in response to mirror-feedback: transfer of information between bilateral motor cortices versus recruitment of regions comprising an action observation network which in turn modulate the motor cortex. In an event-related fMRI design, fourteen chronic stroke subjects performed goal-directed finger flexion movements with their unaffected hand while observing real-time visual feedback of the corresponding (veridical) or opposite (mirror) hand in virtual reality. Among 30 plausible network models that were tested, the winning model revealed significant mirror feedback-based modulation of the ipsilesional motor cortex arising from the contralesional parietal cortex, in a region along the rostral extent of the intraparietal sulcus. No winning model was identified for the veridical feedback condition. We discuss our findings in the context of supporting the latter hypothesis, that mirror feedback-based activation of motor cortex may be attributed to engagement of a contralateral (contralesional) action observation network. These findings may have important implications for identifying putative cortical areas, which may be targeted with non-invasive brain stimulation as a means of potentiating the effects of mirror training.

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Mirror training to augment cross-education during resistance training: a hypothesis

Cited by 35 publications

References 130 publications

Mirror Visual Feedback Training Improves Intermanual Transfer in a Sport-Specific Task: A Comparison between Different Skill Levels

Mirror Visual Feedback Training Improves Intermanual Transfer in a Sport-Specific Task: A Comparison between Different Skill Levels

Mirror illusion reduces motor cortical inhibition in the ipsilateral primary motor cortex during forceful unilateral muscle contractions

Network interactions underlying mirror feedback in stroke: A dynamic causal modeling study

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