This study shows that action observation can stimulate and enhance the beneficial effects of motor training in left hemiparetic patients undergoing intensive rehabilitation in the subacute phase of ischemic stroke.
In agreement with previous studies [4–6, 19], our data suggests that observation of action, with the intention to imitate movements, can increase the excitability of the brain motor areas and, in doing so, can stimulate the recovery of motor control. Moreover, in addition to what has been already described by others, we hypothesized and observed that action observation, coupled with action execution, induces a higher improvement in right hemispheric compared to left hemispheric strokes.