Active Video Gaming for Children with Cerebral Palsy: Does a Clinic-Based Virtual Reality Component Offer an Additive Benefit? A Pilot Study

Abstract

Neither intervention improved outcomes in this small sample. Online mechanisms to support therapist-child communication for exercise progression were insufficient to individualize exercise challenge.

The Effects of a 5-Day Virtual-Reality Based Exercise Program on Kinematics and Postural Muscle Activity in Youth with Cerebral Palsy

“…The 5 day IREX intervention program consisted of 60 minutes of VR-based balance training for 5 consecutive days. The program (Brien & Sveistrup, 2011;Levac et al, 2017) was delivered in the VR therapy room of the OCTC using the commercially available system consisting of a 32" widescreen display, a computer, video camera, and a green screen for computer-generated images.…”

“…The participants interacted with virtual objects in each game to achieve tasks with adjusted difficulty levels, which challenged dynamic standing balance, coordination, and timing. Games were ranked as 'Easy', 'Medium', or 'Hard' based on physical and cognitive demands when played on the lowest game parameters (Levac et al, 2017). Each exercise program was tailored to the individual's needs, with suggested games, challenge parameters, and progression across the 5 days.…”

“…Each exercise program was tailored to the individual's needs, with suggested games, challenge parameters, and progression across the 5 days. A full description of the intervention, approach used to determine when to increase task/game difficulty, games used, and feedback provided is provided in Levac et al (2017).…”

“…Research supports the use of full-body movement VR-based exercise such as that promoted by GestureTek Health's (Toronto, Canada) commercially available rehabilitation-specific Interactive Rehabilitation Exercise System (IREX) as an intervention to improve functional balance and mobility outcomes in children with CP (Levac et al, 2017;Glegg et al, 2014;Weiss et al, 2009). For example, we have previously demonstrated that an intensive 1-week IREX intervention improves short-term balance and functional mobility in adolescents with CP aged 13-19 years (Brien & Sveistrup, 2011).…”

“…We hypothesized that changes would be evidenced through a reduction in (1) total number of steps taken and (2) postural muscle tonic activity, while demonstrating an increase in (1) preference towards a head stabilization in space strategy, and (2) correlations between movements of body segments. The preliminary data reported is part of a larger study on the effects of a 6-week, therapist-monitored home VR gaming program for children and adolescents with CP (Levac et al, 2017).…”