SaeboMind Mental Practice Exercises
Listen, visualize, and retrain your brain to perform functional daily tasks.
Saebo is pleased to introduce SaeboMind – an audio collection of guided mental practice and imagery exercises used as a treatment tool for motor recovery after stroke and other forms of neurological injury. The usefulness of mental practice, or MP, has been studied for decades in sports, exercise, performing arts, and business environments alike. According to research, mental practice and visualization of performing a specific task, in combination with physical training, has a positive effect on outcomes.
There is great news about mental practice! What works for athletes and other healthy adults also can work for someone that has had an injury to their brain and nervous system.
Access All Exercises
Use the form below to gain access to the complete library of SaeboMind Exercises! Access to the online portal will be emailed to you immediately!
Sample SaeboMind Exercises
FAQs
What is SaeboMind?
SaeboMind is a collection of mental imagery practice exercises for improved motor recovery. According to research, mentally rehearsing specific tasks in combination with other treatment can improve upper extremity function after a neurological injury like stroke. Listen, visualize, and retrain your brain to perform functional daily tasks.
I had my stroke 10 years ago. Is it too late for me to start using SaeboMind?
Absolutely not! When it comes to your health, recovery, and physical abilities, it is never too late to try. People up to 20 years post neurological injury can benefit from mental practice exercises.
What can I (or my patient) expect?
In each mental practice session, you will be imagining yourself performing daily tasks with your affected arm, wrist, and fingers. When your mental practice sequence is complete you will go through a brief period of progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing until you have returned to your present environment and opened your eyes.
Mental Practice Exercises
- Enhances motor planning in the brain.
- Improves upper body function.
- Increases the amount a person uses an affected limb.
- Builds a larger “mind map” for many different areas of the brain.
- Promotes relaxation and a meditative state of mind which are proven to help one’s health and well-being.
- Choose from a variety of upper extremity and lower extremity functional activities in the SaeboMind Exercise Portal.
Total practice time ranges from 20-30 minutes for one audio file. All audio files start with Introduction Meditation and end with a Closing Meditation that includes:
- Progressive Muscle Relaxation – a mindful sequence of contraction and relaxation of muscle groups to increase awareness and develop control of muscles;
- Deep Breathing – promotes a relaxation response to lower stress and increase focus, increasing oxygen and blood flow to brain and body.
A special thank you to our SaeboMind Mental Practice Exercise consultants, Emily J. Morgan, MS, OTRL, CSRS, CBIS, RPSFC in NDT and Stephen Page, PhD, OTR/L, Neurorecovery Unlimited, LLC.
Indications
- Clients with stroke or brain injury that have difficulty moving one or both sides of their bodies due to weakness or motor control impairments.
- Clients must be able to concentrate for the duration of a session (20-30 minutes)
- Clients can still qualify for MP even if they can’t move/feel their affected limb(s).
Listening to MP tends to work best on those that can:
- understand concepts regarding mental rehearsal
- actively listen and imagine a visual picture in the mind
- understand (most) spoken directions.
Note: Intervention must include the introductory and closing meditation sequences for effectiveness.
Tip: For best results, each sequence can easily be performed following an initial direction by a skilled therapist, by contacting your Saebo Patient Representative for guidance, or by closely following instructions in the product manual.
Precautions
There are no known adverse effects for participating in mental practice. However, it is highly important to follow the below guidelines:
- Always perform mental practice in a chair or bed that is considered supportive, safe, and secure to avoid falls.
- Ensure all of your assistive equipment is within reach to avoid falls.
- NEVER STAND UP or physically perform any of the actions described during mental practice.
- Supervision is recommended for clients with disorientation or confusion that could place themselves at risk for injury.
- SAEBOMIND EXERCISE AUDIO FILES ARE INTENDED FOR LISTENING AND MENTAL PRACTICE OF A TASK ONLY.
- NEVER drive or operate a vehicle unless cleared by a physician.
- Always work directly with a skilled rehabilitation professional when physically practicing tasks that could place you at risk for fall or injury.
- After finishing your MP session, it is common to be very relaxed as you come back to awareness in your room. As a general precaution, be sure to give yourself time to sit up and stretch, move your muscles, and become alert before getting out of your chair/bed. This will help to reduce the risk of losing balance or becoming light headed from getting up too quickly.
What Does the Research Say About Mental Practice?
Mental practice is a training approach in which an individual repetitively rehearses a physical skill using only their mind. All movement, sensation, and scenery have the potential to be mentally practiced. Like common strategies known as "visualization" and "imagery," mental practice triggers the brain's motor, sensory, and perception centers just like when performing a physical task. This has been observed from a sensitive brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Level 1a evidence (the highest level possible) shows that mental practice is beneficial for improving upper extremity motor function.