Mirror Therapy

My left arm and hand were the last to regain movement—my right arm and hand were light years ahead—my left wouldn't really do anything. For quite awhile I was pretty sure that it would end up being permanent paralysis—that left hand was WAY behind. What finally seemed to do the trick—maybe it was just coincidence, but I wouldn' discount it—was mirror therapy. My mom read about it in one of her million stroke books, and we figured it was worth a shot—it couldn't make anything worse! I did 1-2 15 minute sessions every day (missing a few here and there). I did this independently—I also had an hour of occupational therapy twice a week.

In about two weeks, my hand suddenly woke up. Odd choice of words, maybe—but that's exactly what it felt like. I had some minor progress along the way, but one day it was like my hand just remembered what it was supposed to do.

I just used a mirror about the size of a sheet of ledger paper that was held vertical by wooden "legs." There are mirror boxes available, but the therapy doesn't really require anything that fancy; although, they probably make it easier to block your view of the paralyzed hand. I would imagine that mirror therapy also works for legs.

There is no need for any special exercises—you just  run through your usual dexterity exercises with both hands, but with only the good hand and it's reflection in sight. Somehow this tricks your brain into thinking that the movements you are telling it to do (even though you can't do them, it's important to try) are looking like those done by your good hand. At least that is how I understood it! Ironically enough, despite their lingering uselessness, my left arm and hand gained strength more quickly than the right arm and hand later.

Article about the effectiveness of mirror therapy