Deans' stroke musings: Benefits of virtual reality based cognitive rehabilitation through simulated activities of daily living: a randomized controlled trial with stroke patients

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.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Benefits of virtual reality based cognitive rehabilitation through simulated activities of daily living: a randomized controlled trial with stroke patients

Now just write up a protocol on this so stroke survivors can benefit. Or don't you give a shit about helping survivors? Why isn't our great stroke association following up researchers and getting them to write protocols? Are they too fucking busy writing that next prevention press release?

Virtual reality proof of efficacy has been out there for years now. Somebody write up a fucking protocol, that might be the only way stroke departments will ever get it. Why is everyone WAITING FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM?
Dammed lazy assholes.

https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12984-016-0204-z?sap-outbound-id=705AE1C9594834667CB7F123ACF33D67BA90A98E

Ana Lúcia Faria†Email author View ORCID ID profile,
Andreia Andrade†,
Luísa Soares and
Sergi Bermúdez i Badia

†Contributed equally

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation201613:96

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12984-016-0204-z

Received: 4 November 2015

Accepted: 25 October 2016

Published: 2 November 2016

Abstract

Background

Stroke is one of the most common causes of acquired disability, leaving numerous adults with cognitive and motor impairments, and affecting patients’ capability to live independently. There is substancial evidence on post-stroke cognitive rehabilitation benefits, but its implementation is generally limited by the use of paper-and-pencil methods, insufficient personalization, and suboptimal intensity. Virtual reality tools have shown potential for improving cognitive rehabilitation by supporting carefully personalized, ecologically valid tasks through accessible technologies. Notwithstanding important progress in VR-based cognitive rehabilitation systems, specially with Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) simulations, there is still a need of more clinical trials for its validation. In this work we present a one-month randomized controlled trial with 18 stroke in and outpatients from two rehabilitation units: 9 performing a VR-based intervention and 9 performing conventional rehabilitation.

Methods

The VR-based intervention involved a virtual simulation of a city – Reh@City - where memory, attention, visuo-spatial abilities and executive functions tasks are integrated in the performance of several daily routines. The intervention had levels of difficulty progression through a method of fading cues. There was a pre and post-intervention assessment in both groups with the Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination (primary outcome) and the Trail Making Test A and B, Picture Arrangement from WAIS III and Stroke Impact Scale 3.0 (secondary outcomes).

Results

A within groups analysis revealed significant improvements in global cognitive functioning, attention, memory, visuo-spatial abilities, executive functions, emotion and overall recovery in the VR group. The control group only improved in self-reported memory and social participation. A between groups analysis, showed significantly greater improvements in global cognitive functioning, attention and executive functions when comparing VR to conventional therapy.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that cognitive rehabilitation through the Reh@City, an ecologically valid VR system for the training of ADL’s, has more impact than conventional methods.

Trial registration

This trial was not registered because it is a small sample study that evaluates the clinical validity of a prototype virtual reality system.