A total of 29 patients, 7 women, and 22 men were included according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients were randomly assigned to the control group (n = 14) and the Mirror group (n = 15). Five sessions of neuromuscular electrical stimulation, unaffected side ankle dorsiflexors were applied to the patients in both groups. In addition to the NMES, mirror therapy was applied to the experimental group simultaneously with NMES. Before and after treatment, both ankle dorsiflexor strength was measured with a force sensor. For force measurements, a force transducer (FC2211-0000-0100-L Compression Load Cell, TE Connectivity company, France) was used. Force transducer signals were received with a data acquisition device (POWERLAB® data acquisition system ADInstruments, Oxford, UK) and evaluated offline on the computer. The measurement values were expressed in kilogram.force (kg.f) and this value was normalized according to body weight.
This study was conducted to determine whether mirror therapy has an additive effect on cross-education of the strength of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in patients with hemiplegia. As an outcome measure, the ankle dorsiflexion strength of hemiplegic patients was measured.