Effects of Occupational Therapy and Neurofeedback on Recovery of the Motor Function in Stroke Patients (A Single-System Design)

Background and aim: Motor impairments, such as hemiparesis, incoordination and spasticity, are the most common deficits after stroke. Most patients show recovery in some of their lost motor function over time. Motor rehabilitation are included mixed of combined movement therapy techniques in many occupational clinics. cerebral waves such as Theta wave can influence on patients function. There fore, the purpose of this study is to understand the influence of combined of occupational therapy and neurofeedback on motor recovery of stroke patients.Materials and methods :This study used a single-system (A-B) design. During the baseline phase patient's function of upper and lowe limb were measured by Fugl-Meyer and Berg Test on three day intervals during 4 week and have occupational therapy every day. After this time, their treatment program began. In this phase they received combined of neurofeedback and occupational therapy for 4 week. Then results of evaluations of two phases were analysed. Results: Both cases show significant recovery at upper limbs( case1 81.1% , case2 68.1%) and lower limbs( case1 73.1% , case2 75.4% ) in Fugel-Mayer test and Berg test( case1 51.6% , case2 68.1%).Conclusion:Regarding the significant recovery of upper and lower limb function of patients, adding neurofeedback to routine occupational therapy can be considered as a practical method in rehabilitation of stroke patients. However further research is needed.