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W. Yaemrattanakul1, O. Chantajunlasin1, P. Chotchuang1, P. Sathin1
1Prince of Songkla University, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Hatyai, Thailand
Background: Stroke is the second most frequent cause of mortality around the globe and frequently results in long-term disability. Physical therapy can improve quality of life after stroke by focusing on physical training or repetitive tasks until patients achieve motor learning again. There is preliminary evidence that mental training including mindfulness meditation, motor imagery, and action observation combined with physical training can enhance motor learning and motor performance better than physical training alone. However, no studies have compared the effect of mental training on the acquisition of motor skills so far.
Purpose: This study aimed to compare the effects of brief mindfulness meditation, motor imagery, and action observation combined with physical training on dart throwing performance in beginners at post-test day 3 and retention test day 5.
Methods: This is a preliminary study to further evaluate patients with stroke. Participants were undergraduate students, aged 19 to 22 years, right-handed, and not professional dart players. Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups: brief mindfulness meditation (n =7), motor imagery (n =7), and action observation (n =7). Fifteen minutes of group-specific training was combined with practicing dart-throwing for 15 minutes on 3 consecutive days. The measured outcomes were dart-throwing scores and flow assessment Thai version. Outcome parameters were measured at day 1 (pre-test; T0), at day 3 (post-test; T1), and at day 5 (retention-test; T2).
Results: The results showed that dart-throwing performance and flow score were not significantly different in the 3 mental training groups. Motor imagery and action observation significantly improved the dart-throwing score at post-test (p-value = 0.018) and retention-test (p-value = 0.018), while only brief mindfulness meditation significantly increased the flow score (p-value = 0.012).
Conclusion(s): Motor imagery and action observation combined with physical training can enhance dart-throwing performance, while brief mindfulness meditation can improve flow state in novice. However, high-quality further studies are needed to confirm the effects of mental training on the acquisition of motor skills.
Implications: These findings strongly encourage further investigations of the effectiveness of mental training for improving motor function in patients with stroke.
Funding, acknowledgements: This work is funded by the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand.
Keywords: Action observation, Brief mindfulness meditation, Motor imagery
Topic: Neurology: stroke
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Prince of Songkla University
Committee: Human Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University
Ethics number: 62-309-30-2
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
