Virtual rehabilitation via Nintendo Wii® and conventional physical therapy effectively treat post-stroke hemiparetic patients

Abstract

Virtual rehabilitation using the Nintendo Wii® and CPT both effectively treat post-stroke hemiparetic patients by improving passive movement and pain scores, motor function of the upper limb, balance, physical functioning, vitality, and the physical and emotional aspects of role functioning.

Development and implementation of technologies for physical telerehabilitation in Latin America:

“…Some research projects have directly explored the potential of current commercial games for rehabilitation. This is the case of commercial console games with motion-based input devices, such as Playstation and Wii Sports, which have been used in real clinical studies [28]- [30]. Their main drawbacks are related to a design that is directed at normal subjects.…”

“…Randomized trials are used to evaluate the efficacy of virtual reality scenarios and exergaming technologies in rehabilitation sessions. Such technologies are implemented using commercial controller devices, such as the Wii Remote® [28], [58] and Kinect® [56], [57]. These works aim to improve the physical functions of Cerebral Palsy [57], [58] and stroke [28], [56] patients.…”

“…In terms of developed technologies, most of those systems aim to support the physical rehabilitation through some virtual rehabilitation applications, which are based on serious games (exergames). Like in other countries in Latin America, those systems propose to use different low-cost devices such as Kinect® [59], [61], [62], Nintendo Wii® [24], [28], balance board [64] and PlayStation EYE® webcam [63], among others. Those initiatives allowed to provide therapeutic treatments for hemiparetic stroke [24], [28], [63], [64] and upper limb disabilities [61], [62].…”

Motor Task Performance under Visual and Auditory Feedback Post Stroke: A Randomised Crossover Trial

“…16 and the number of correct movements. However, we found an inverse correlation between the number of correct movements and age (p=0.02).…”

“…Robotic devices [10][11][12] have demonstrated improvements in motor impairment [10][11][12], but are bulky, complex and costly, which limits both home-use and widespread application [13]. Camera-based solutions, in particular those based on Microsoft ® Kinect ® , have been widely adopted [14], as well as those based on the Nintendo ® Wii ® console [15,16]. While practical, these systems have limitations regarding the accuracy in full kinematic movement tracking [14,17].…”