Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Suitability of Nintendo Wii Balance Board for rehabilitation of standing after stroke

Or you could get a 16.95 balance board from Amazon. But that would have no scientific trials proving it worked so if a clinical trial has not been run then it can't work.  A tree falls in the forest, etc.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/ptr/2012/00000017/00000005/art00006
Abstract:
Background: Normal standing requires ongoing postural adjustments while performing a variety of everyday tasks. Reduced muscle strength and dexterity affect the ability to stand after stroke. Biofeedback has been shown to be effective in training lower limb activities in people with stroke. Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii Balance Board, and Nintendo Wii Fit Plus are potentially useful devices for providing feedback to train standing after stroke.

Objectives: What specific Nintendo Wii Fit Plus games are suitable for rehabilitation of standing in patients with stroke?

Method: A criteria-based review of the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus was carried out to determine the movements required, feedback provided, demands upon the patient, difficulty of and instruction provided by the Nintendo Wii Fit Plus games in the context of stroke rehabilitation. Seventy-five Nintendo Wii Fit Plus games were reviewed and 20 were included for in-depth review.

Major findings: The games require movements of the centre of mass in different directions, provide feedback in different ways and place additional physical and cognitive demands upon the patient. Only five games are suitable for people who have severely impaired ability to stand. Six games are suitable for people with moderately impaired standing and nine games are suitable only for people with mildly impaired standing ability. Game goals and the position of the patient can be modified to make the games target physiotherapy goals.

Conclusions: Enough suitable games exist to make the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii Fit Plus an appropriate biofeedback device for rehabilitation of standing after stroke.

1 comment:

  1. I used Wii the first 6 months home. It served 2 purposes: 1) It helped me to learn balanced weight distribution between both legs. 2) It provided variety in my exercise routine during a period when I was confined to the house. I was later pleased to discover that the Wii streams Netflix -- so even though I don't use it for therapy anymore, I am putting it to good use!

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