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Mental Practice for Relearning Locomotor Skills

F. Malouin, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, and Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS), Rehabilitation Institute of Quebec, 525 Blvd Wilfrid-Hamel Est, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada G1M 2S8.
C.L. Richards, PT, PhD, DU, FCAHS, is Professor and Holder of the Laval University Research Chair in Cerebral Palsy, Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, and Director, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CIRRIS), Rehabilitation Institute of Quebec.

Address all correspondence to Dr Malouin at: Francine.Malouin{at}rea.ulaval.ca.

Over the past 2 decades, much work has been carried out on the use of mental practice through motor imagery for optimizing the retraining of motor function in people with physical disabilities. Although much of the clinical work with mental practice has focused on the retraining of upper-extremity tasks, this article reviews the evidence supporting the potential of motor imagery for retraining gait and tasks involving coordinated lower-limb and body movements. First, motor imagery and mental practice are defined, and evidence from physiological and behavioral studies in healthy individuals supporting the capacity to imagine walking activities through motor imagery is examined. Then the effects of stroke, spinal cord injury, lower-limb amputation, and immobilization on motor imagery ability are discussed. Evidence of brain reorganization in healthy individuals following motor imagery training of dancing and of a foot movement sequence is reviewed, and the effects of mental practice on gait and other tasks involving coordinated lower-limb and body movements in people with stroke and in people with Parkinson disease are examined. Lastly, questions pertaining to clinical assessment of motor imagery ability and training strategies are discussed.

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