This time, I'd like to talk about mirror training and healthy people.
Have you ever heard of mirror training?
Mirror training is generally used for the rehabilitation of people with neurological disorders, but I have heard of cases where it has been used for healthy people, depending on the interpretation.
Mirror training is done by using a mirror in an ingenious way, and has a different meaning from training done while looking at a mirror in front of you.
I would like to introduce a study that investigates whether this is effective for healthy people. Here is a study that investigates whether this is effective for healthy people.
Contents of the study
Mirror training (MTr) is a rehabilitation technique for patients with neurological diseases.There is no consensus on its effects on motor function in healthy individuals.
This systematic review and meta-analysis considers the impact of MTr on motor function in healthy individuals.
Fourteen randomized controlled trials with 538 healthy individuals were included in the study.Two short-term studies showed that MTr was inferior to passive visual patterns.
Methods varied, with limited evidence to support the effectiveness of MTr compared to the three alternative training patterns, and insufficient evidence to support analyses of age, skill level, or hand dominance.
In conclusion, the limited evidence that MTr influences motor skills in healthy individuals is weak and inconsistent across studies.
It is unclear whether the effects of MTr on motor performance are more pronounced than those of direct vision patterns, passive vision patterns, or behavioral observations.Further research is needed to investigate the short- and long-term benefits of MTr and its effects on motor learning in healthy individuals.
Considerations
Mirror training is a method that is designed to approach the brain rather than the muscles and nerves.
As I was reading this article, I was thinking that people who are looking for "miracles" from training might want to try it.
There are some studies that have shown that mirror training is effective for athletes and skilled musicians, so they read about them and try to incorporate them into their training, but it's hard to say if there is a big difference between mirror training and another method of training using a mirror.
However, it is difficult to say whether mirror training or other methods of training using mirrors, such as active vision training and passive vision training, will work or not.Therefore, it may be better to think that they are only elements that can be added to the base training.
Chen Y, Wang P, Bai Y, Wang Y. Effects of mirror training on motor performance in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2019;5(1):e000590. published 2019 Dec 4. doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2019-000590
Conclusion
The effect of mirror training on a healthy person cannot be clearly said.
As a former musician (vocalist and piano player), I have experienced training similar to this method, but it had no effect on me.
If you want to do it, just do it.
