Effects of virtual reality-based rehabilitation on distal upper extremity function and health-related quality of life: a single-blinded, randomized controlled trial

So ask your doctor for the protocol and when it will be installed in their department. Anything longer than a month is grounds for calling the president to ask why the stroke department has no sense of urgency. A year later and has your doctor done one damn thing with this information? Not even knowing about this is grounds for firing. We need to clear out all the dead wood in stroke.
http://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12984-016-0125-x

• Joon-Ho ShinEmail author,
• Mi-Young Kim,
• Ji-Yeong Lee,
• Yu-Jin Jeon,
• Suyoung Kim,
• Soobin Lee,
• Beomjoo Seo and
• Younggeun Choi

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation201613:17

DOI: 10.1186/s12984-016-0125-x

©  Shin et al. 2016

Received: 26 October 2015

Accepted: 12 February 2016

Published: 24 February 2016

Abstract

Background

Virtual reality (VR)-based rehabilitation has been reported to have beneficial effects on upper extremity function in stroke survivors; however, there is limited information about its effects on distal upper extremity function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of VR-based rehabilitation combined with standard occupational therapy on distal upper extremity function and HRQoL, and compare the findings to those of amount-matched conventional rehabilitation in stroke survivors.

Methods

The present study was a single-blinded, randomized controlled trial. The study included 46 stroke survivors who were randomized to a Smart Glove (SG) group or a conventional intervention (CON) group. In both groups, the interventions were targeted to the distal upper extremity and standard occupational therapy was administered. The primary outcome was the change in the Fugl–Meyer assessment (FM) scores, and the secondary outcomes were the changes in the Jebsen–Taylor hand function test (JTT), Purdue pegboard test, and Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) version 3.0 scores. The outcomes were assessed before the intervention, in the middle of the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and 1 month after the intervention.

Results

The improvements in the FM (FM-total, FM-prox, and FM-dist), JTT (JTT-total and JTT-gross), and SIS (composite and overall SIS, SIS-social participation, and SIS-mobility) scores were significantly greater in the SG group than in the CON group.

Conclusions

VR-based rehabilitation combined with standard occupational therapy might be more effective than amount-matched conventional rehabilitation for improving distal upper extremity function and HRQoL.

Trial registration

This study is registered under the title “Effects of Novel Game Rehabilitation System on Upper Extremity Function of Patients With Stroke” and can be located in https://clinicaltrials.gov with the study identifier NCT02029651.