Impact of motor guided imagery therapy on stroke patients with pain symptoms: a three-level meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials
Year: 2026
Type: review
Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis
Abstract: Background: Post-stroke pain is a common and intractable complication that hinders neurorehabilitation progress. Motor Guided Imagery (MGI), an emerging rehabilitation technique based on brain-computer interaction principles, has shown potential in relieving post-stroke pain, yet high-quality evidence on its multi-dimensional efficacy remains insufficient. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of MGI on pain, sensorimotor function, sleep quality, life status, and psychological mood in stroke patients using a three-level meta-analysis. Objective: This study aimed to quantitatively assess the therapeutic effects of Motor Guided Imagery for stroke-related pain and explore potential intervention moderators using a three-level meta-analysis framework. Methods: effect sizes, accompanied by heterogeneity testing, moderator analysis, influence analysis, and publication bias assessment. Influence-based outlier detection was implemented; analyses retaining all effect-size observations were treated as the primary main analysis, while outlier-removed analyses were reported only as supplementary sensitivity checks. Results: = 0.0002); positive Hedges' g indicates clinical improvement for the latter three outcomes. Moderator analysis indicated that acute-phase intervention (≤4 weeks) and high-frequency regimens (>5 sessions/week) tended to produce better analgesic effects, while age, gender, single-session duration, and pain location had no significant moderating effects. Conclusion: MGI may produce beneficial rehabilitation effects that can alleviate post-stroke pain and synergistically improve motor function, sleep, daily-living ability, and psychological state of stroke patients. Exploratory subgroup trends indicated potentially larger effects for early implementation within the acute phase and high-frequency short-duration regimens. However, these observations should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating clues given non-significant overall moderator tests. Further high-quality research is required to confirm these findings. Registration: The systematic review protocol was retrospectively registered with PROSPERO under registration ID CRD420261278812, after literature search and full-text screening had been completed. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD420261278812; identifier: CRD420261278812.
Source: Frontiers in Neurology
Authors: Xinmo Li, Hong Ni, Guangze Cui, Chen Wei, Yongguo Zhu
Language: English
Subfield: Rehabilitation
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7220742987