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Brain Advance Access published online on June 8, 2009
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awp135
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review Article

The use of visual feedback, in particular mirror visual feedback, in restoring brain function

V. S. Ramachandran1 and Eric L. Altschuler1,2

1 Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA 2 Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103, USA

Correspondence to: V. S. Ramachandran, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, 0109, La Jolla, California 92093-0109, USA E-mail: vramacha{at}ucsd.edu

This article reviews the potential use of visual feedback, focusing on mirror visual feedback, introduced over 15 years ago, for the treatment of many chronic neurological disorders that have long been regarded as intractable such as phantom pain, hemiparesis from stroke and complex regional pain syndrome. Apart from its clinical importance, mirror visual feedback paves the way for a paradigm shift in the way we approach neurological disorders. Instead of resulting entirely from irreversible damage to specialized brain modules, some of them may arise from short-term functional shifts that are potentially reversible. If so, relatively simple therapies can be devised—of which mirror visual feedback is an example—to restore function.

Key Words: mirror visual feedback; phantom limb; phantom pain; hemiparesis; complex regional pain syndrome

Abbreviations: CRPS, Complex regional pain syndrome; MVF, mirror visual feedback; RSD, reflex sympathetic dystrophy

Received January 4, 2009. Revised April 23, 2009. Accepted April 24, 2009.


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