Introduction
neuropathic pain, fatigue, impaired coordination, cord injury, age-related deficits, Frailty
CORTEX
Frailty is caused by accumulated age-related deficits in older persons. It has negative consequences on the individual’s overall physical health, muscle tone alteration and weakness, impaired coordination or increased fatigue, which leads to reduced mobility and functionality and thus has a negative impact on quality of life [Therefore, it is important to prescribe therapeutic exercise in this population, in an attempt to break the vicious circle and improve their physical condition [This handicap makes it difficult to prescribe the required volume and intensity of exercise, as it must be adapted to their poor physical condition. For this reason, there are different therapeutic alternatives to increase the results of exercise, such as those involving the cortical areas that represent movement (i.e., motor and premotor areas) [It is the case of therapies that use virtual reality to activate mirror neurons, which are defined as a particular type of visuomotor neurons, originally discovered in the F5 area of the premotor cortex of a monkey [Related therapies are based on the assumption that previously viewing a specific action may improve its subsequent execution since these therapies produce an activation of cortical and subcortical neural networks where the mirror neurons are located, as many studies confirm throw physiological measures [Further, the effect of mirror neuron therapies was also analysed in other populations with sensitive injury, such as in people with spinal cord injury. Specifically, bodily illusion therapy was effective in reducing neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injury with promising results [MethodsA single-blinded, two-arm, randomised controlled trial design was employed. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universitat de València (1675215) and performed in accordance with the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants signed the informed consent to participate in the study. Moreover, this study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05273229).