It aims to give flexibility and creativity back to the brain via graded exposure”. GMI is a 3-stage treatment that aims to gradually engage cortical motor networks without triggering the protective response of pain. The first stage involves left/right judgments of photographs that depict the affected area. For limb pain, this involves viewing an image of a limb and judging whether that image depicts a left or a right limb. The second stage, motor imagery, requires imagined movement of the area. These imagined movements have been demonstrated to activate motor cortical areas similar to those activated in the actual execution of that movement. The final stage, mirror therapy, patients place their affected limb inside a mirror box and watch movement of their unaffected limb in the mirror, giving the illusion of a moving, but pain-free affected limb. This task activates the motor cortex and also provides a strong visual input to the cortex that the movements are occurring normally and without impairment (Bowering et al.
It aims to give flexibility and creativity back to the brain via graded exposure”. GMI is a 3-stage treatment that aims to gradually engage cortical motor networks without triggering the protective response of pain. The first stage involves left/right judgments of photographs that depict the affected area. For limb pain, this involves viewing an image of a limb and judging whether that image depicts a left or a right limb. The second stage, motor imagery, requires imagined movement of the area. These imagined movements have been demonstrated to activate motor cortical areas similar to those activated in the actual execution of that movement. The final stage, mirror therapy, patients place their affected limb inside a mirror box and watch movement of their unaffected limb in the mirror, giving the illusion of a moving, but pain-free affected limb. This task activates the motor cortex and also provides a strong visual input to the cortex that the movements are occurring normally and without impairment (Bowering et al.