We got this email recently: 
I want to praise Carol Dickman’s Seated Yoga video and Belleruth’s Parkinson’s Disease imagery.  My husband who has been disabled and depressed with his illness for several years responds well to these.  He works with both each day.  He is less depressed, sleeps better and we both think he has gotten somewhat better at getting himself to move when he is “stalled”, which is what we call it when there is a gap between when he wants to use his muscles and when they respond.

Guided Motor Imagery Helps with Athletic Performance, Neurological Conditions

Investigators at the University of Haifa in Israel reviewed the literature to determine the positive effects of guided motor imagery practice on motor performance. There is abundant evidence that motor performance is improved in athletes, people who are healthy, and people with neurological conditions, such as stroke, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. This article discusses how to integrate motor imagery into a physical therapy practice and goes into particulars of visual and kinesthetic motor imagery, factors that modify motor imagery practice, the design of motor imagery protocols, and potential applications of motor imagery.

Citation: Dickstein R, Deutsch JE. Motor imagery in physical therapist practice. Physical Therapy. 2007 Jul; 87 (7): pages 942-53. Epub 2007 May 1 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Researchers from Meir General Hospital in Kfar Saba, Israel, investigated the efficacy of motor imagery practice for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease symptoms.

Of 23 patients with idiopathic PD, an experimental group of 12 was treated with both imagery and physical practice, and a control group received physical exercises alone.

Exercises for both groups were applied during 1-hour sessions held twice a week for 12 weeks. Comparable motor tasks provided to both groups included callisthenic exercises, functional tasks, and relaxation exercises.