Objective

In children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP), some studies have shown an improvement in manual function following a self-rehabilitation program by mirror therapy. However, adherence to this protocol has not been reported. So, we studied the feasibility and compliance of this self-rehabilitation program in the hemiplegic child.

Material and methods

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mirror therapy on the upper limb of children with HCP. Twenty-eight children (11.9 ± 2.7 years) went through a self-rehabilitation program by mirror therapy at home. This program was developed by the Swiss team of Newman and Gigax. It consists of 7 exercises, for a total of 15 min, repeated 5 days per week for 5 weeks. A diary was given to each child to note the daily time spent on the protocol and the number of series actually done for each exercise.

Adherence was assessed by the number of series performed. Difficulties and adverse events that occurred during this period were also collected.

Results

All the children have achieved the 5 week protocol and all were satisfied with their participation. The global observance of the protocol is good with 86.3% of the exercises performed on the average of five weeks (SD ± 12.6). There is no significant difference between the observance of the first week and that of the fifth week (87% vs. 81%) ( P = 0.22). It exists a significant decrease in the average length of time spent on the protocol between the first and the fifth week (18 min 24 vs. 12 min 42) ( P < 0.05). No event or significant adverse effects was detected during the protocol.

Discussion/Conclusion

This self-rehabilitation protocol by mirror therapy shows good feasibility and good compliance. Self-rehabilitation seems to be an interesting tool easy to implement and well accepted by the children with HCP.