Mirror Box Therapy is used to help regain hand function.

The patient places the affected limb inside the box and the “normal” limb rests outside of the box with its mirror image replacing the affected limb. The patient looks into the mirror on the side with the normal limb and makes “mirror symmetric” movements. Because the patient is seeing the reflected image of the normal hand moving, it appears as if the affected limb is also moving. Through the use of this artificial visual feedback it becomes possible for the patient to “move” the affected limb and to reduce pain.

Dr. Ramachandran hypothesized that every time the patient attempted to move the paralyzed limb, they received sensory feedback (vision and proprioception) that the limb did not move. This feedback stamped itself into the brain so the brain had learned that the limb was paralyzed. A mirror box is used to eliminate the learned paralysis.

The visual feedback that mirror therapy provides replaces the sensory feedback that the brain expects from the affected limb. It has been suggested that visualizing and undertaking symmetrical bilateral movements post stroke enhance neuroplastic changes within the brain.

For more information look at YouTube: Mirror Box therapy and look at the Wikipedia article: Mirror Box