Abstract: Objective To study the effect of motor imagery on balance rehabilitation in hemiplegics after stroke.Methods 20 hemiplegic patients who were in chronic stage(above 6 months)were randomly divided into two groups.Normal rehabilitation was performed in the whole stage and motor imagery was added in group A in stage Ⅰ and group B in stage Ⅱ.All patients were assessed with Berg Balance Scale(BBS),blance subscale of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment(FM-B),max affected limb-loading per weight and Functional Independence Measure(FIM)at the beginning and the ending of the every stage,respectively.Results The deference scores of BBS and FIM,as well as max affected limb-loading per weight between in the stage with motor imagery was better than those in the stage without motor imagery(P<0.01),as well as that of FM-B score(P<0.05).Conclusion Motor imagery can improve balance rehabilitation and activity of daily living in chronic hemiplegics.

Key words: motor imagery, stroke, balance, activity of daily living