Investigation of the Effect of Motor Imagery on Gait and Balance Functions in Children With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

The most common muscular dystrophy among pediatric neuromuscular diseases is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). There is no consensus on a standardized physiotherapy and rehabilitation program or exercise prescription in DMD. Motor imagery (MI) is defined as visualizing motor activities in one's mind without performing any movement. There are studies examining the effectiveness of motor imagery in stroke, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's, peripheral facial paralysis, and phantom pain. This study is aimed to examine the effect of motor imagery on gait and balance functions in children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Boys residing in Istanbul Turkey, between the ages of 5 and 12, with a diagnosis of DMD who have not lost their ability to ambulate independently will be included in the study. The included individuals will be divided into two groups due to randomization: Group A (Control Group Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Program) and Group B (Additional Motor Imagery Training to Intervention Group Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Program). While the physiotherapy and rehabilitation program is applied to the participants in Group A with 40-minute sessions on 2 non-consecutive days of the week for 8 weeks, the participants in Group B will receive an additional 25-30-minute motor imagery program to the physiotherapy and rehabilitation program. Participants were tested with Kinovea Gait Analysis, Timed Up and Go Test, 2 Minute Walking Test, Motor Function Rating Scale for Neuromuscular Diseases, timed performance tests, Pediatric Berg Balance Scale, Pediatric Fear of Fall Questionnaire (Ped-FOF) before and after the program. will be evaluated later. IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) statistical program version 22.0 will be used for statistical analysis. The conformity of the variables to the normal distribution will be determined by the "Shapiro-Wilk Test". If the variables show normal distribution, the variation within the group will be analyzed with the "Paired Sample T Test", if not, the "Wilcoxon Test" will be analyzed. In the comparison between groups, if the variables show normal distribution, it will be done with the "Independent T Test" in independent groups and the "Mann Whitney U Test" if they do not show normal distribution. Categorical data distributions will be evaluated with the "Chi-square test". In all analyses, p<0.05 will be considered statistically significant.