Abstract

Doc number: 199

Abstract

Background: Evidence indicates that the continuation of therapy among community-dwelling stroke survivors improves physical function. Community rehabilitation programmes often face limitations in terms of resources. It is imperative to include new motivational interventions to encourage some level of non-clinician management. The aim of this study was to determine whether there were any changes in physical function and activities of daily living when substituting a portion of the standard physiotherapy time with virtual reality games among community-dwelling stroke survivors.

Methods: In this controlled trial, the experimental group received 30 minutes of virtual reality balance games in addition to 90 minutes of standard physiotherapy. The control group continued with their two hours of routine standard physiotherapy. Both groups received 12 therapy sessions: two-hour sessions twice per week for six continuous weeks. Changes in physical function, activities of daily living and balance ability were assessed using the Timed Up and Go test, 30-second Sit to Stand test, Timed Ten-Metre Walk test, Six-Minute Walk test and the Barthel Index, and static balance was assessed using a probalance board.

Results: Twenty-eight participants completed post-intervention assessments. The results showed a significant within-subject effect on the Timed Up and Go test: F (1, 26) = 5.83, p = 0.02; and the 30-second Sit to Stand test; F (1, 26) = 13.50, p = 0.001. The between-subject effect was not significant (p > 0.05) for any of the outcome measurements.

Conclusion: S ubstituting a portion of the standard physiotherapy time with virtual reality games was equally effective in maintaining physical function outcomes and activities of daily living among community-dwelling stroke survivors.

Trial Registration: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register, ACTRN12613000478718

Details

Title
Effects of substituting a portion of standard physiotherapy time with virtual reality games among community-dwelling stroke survivors
Author
Singh, Devinder Kaur Ajit; Mohd Nordin, Nor Azlin; Aziz, Noor Azah Abd; Lim, Beng Kooi; Soh, Li Ching
Pages
199
Publication year
2013
Publication date
2013
Publisher
BioMed Central
e-ISSN
14712377
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1469054860
Copyright
© 2013 Singh et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.