Motor imagery for paediatric neurorehabilitation: how much do we know? Perspectives from a systematic review

Motor Imagery (MI) is a cognitive process consisting in mental simulation of body movements without executing physical actions: its clinical use has been investigated prevalently in adults with neurological disorders. MI represents the physiological result of complex sensory-motor integrations of feedforward and feedback to and from the external environment. The present review aims to systematically analyze MI based clinical studies in childhood and adolescence with various dysfunction of the nervous system to investigate the efficacy of using MI in the pediatric (neuro)rehabilitative practice.

• 1
  The use of MI was stated as effective in 19/22, and uncertain in the remnant studies.
• 2
  The combination of AO + MI was more effective than AO alone in improving intentional and automatic imitative abilities and in enhancing response times, eye-to-manual coordination and fluidity of motion kinematics.
• 3
  MI training, integrated into neurorehabilitation programs, thus far shows an encouraging trend of positive outcomes in term of sensory-motor, mental, and social well-being, in children and adolescents with particular conditions/disorders of the nervous system.