{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T05:23:19Z","timestamp":1787289799731,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787270400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), Taiwan","award":["NSTC 112-2314-B-002-329"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NSTC 112-2314-B-002-329"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Neurol."],"abstract":"\n Objectives<\/jats:title>\n Peripheral nerve reconstruction often requires prolonged rehabilitation to restore sensorimotor function. Motor imagery (MI), electrical stimulation (ES), and mirror visual feedback (MVF) are commonly used rehabilitation strategies; however, their comparative effects on cortical oscillatory dynamics during early neural recovery remain unclear. This study investigated EEG sensorimotor rhythm modulation during MI, ES, and ES combined with MVF in individuals who had undergone upper limb peripheral nerve reconstruction.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n Eleven patients, within six months after peripheral nerve reconstruction, and twenty-one age-matched healthy participants were recruited. Electroencephalography was recorded during the resting state and three independent task conditions: MI, ES with sham MVF, and ES combined with MVF. Relative power (RP) and baseline-normalized changes in relative power (\u0394RP) in EEG spectral bands were calculated to characterize task-related modulation of sensorimotor rhythms. To control for multiple condition contrasts,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n values were adjusted using the Benjamini\u2013Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR-adjusted) procedure within each frequency band and group.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n Task-related modulation was most pronounced in the alpha band. In healthy participants, alpha RP significantly decreased during all task conditions compared with the resting state (all FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001). In contrast, patients showed significant alpha RP suppression during ES and MVF (FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001 and\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.002, respectively), whereas MI alone showed less evident alpha RP suppression and did not reach statistical significance after FDR correction (FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.078). Greater alpha band \u0394RP during MVF than MI was observed in healthy participants (FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.009), whereas the corresponding contrast did not remain significant in patients after FDR correction (FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f0.090). Modulation of beta rhythms was limited in both groups (all FDR-adjusted\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&gt;\u202f0.05).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n These findings suggest that alpha modulation during MI was less evident in patients following peripheral nerve reconstruction. However, given the limited sample size, the non-significant MI finding should be interpreted cautiously. In contrast, ES-based interventions, particularly when combined with MVF, were associated with greater sensorimotor rhythm modulation, supporting the potential role of multimodal rehabilitation strategies in facilitating cortical reorganization during early neural recovery after peripheral nerve repair.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fneur.2026.1836039","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]],"date-time":"2026-08-21T04:23:06Z","timestamp":1787286186000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Differential modulation of sensorimotor alpha rhythms by motor imagery, electrical stimulation, and mirror visual feedback following peripheral nerve reconstruction: an EEG study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yueh-Hsia","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]},{"name":"Division of Physical Therapy, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, National Taiwan University Hospital","place":["Taipei, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shih-Heng","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital","place":["Taoyuan, Taiwan"]},{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University","place":["Taoyuan, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cheng-Hung","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital","place":["Taoyuan, Taiwan"]},{"name":"College of Medicine, Chang Gung University","place":["Taoyuan, Taiwan"]},{"name":"Center for Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital","place":["Taoyuan, Taiwan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3122","DOI":"10.1093\/brain\/awp231","article-title":"Cutting your nerve changes your brain","volume":"132","author":"Taylor","year":"2009","journal-title":"Brain"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2807","DOI":"10.4103\/nrr.Nrr-d-24-00641","article-title":"Multilevel analysis of the central\u2013peripheral\u2013target organ pathway: contributing to recovery after peripheral nerve injury","volume":"20","author":"Song","year":"2025","journal-title":"Neural Regen Res"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.1007\/s00234-017-1796-0","article-title":"Functional connectivity of motor cortical network in patients with brachial plexus avulsion injury after contralateral cervical nerve transfer: a 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