Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: May 5, 2022
Date Accepted: Nov 7, 2023
Effects of a Virtual Reality Cycling Platform on the Lower Limb Rehabilitation in Patients with Ataxia and Hemiparesis: A pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
New interventions based on motor learning principles and neural plasticity have been tested with patients with ataxia. Therapies of pedalling exercises also have shown their potential to induce improvements in muscle activity, strength, and balance. Virtual reality (VR) has been demonstrated as an effective tool for improving the adherence to physical therapy.
Objective:
Our objective is to evaluate the effect of the use of VR on the rehabilitation process using the pedalling exercise.
Methods:
A randomized controlled trial with 20 patients with ataxia and hemiparesis has been carried out. The participants were divided into two groups: the experimental group (EG, N = 10) performed pedalling exercises using the VR system and the control group (CG, N = 10) performed pedalling exercises without using the VR system. Measurements of gait function metrics, Time Up-and-Go (TUG) and Six-Minute walk test (SMW), and the assessment of the active-passive range of motion (ROM) of the hip and knee joint were taken before and after a cycling intervention consisting of 3 sessions of the same duration but with progressively increasing speed (4 km/h, 5 km/h, 6 km/h).
Results:
Overall, both groups showed improvements in the gait function abilities at the end of the intervention. A greater improvement in the SMW results for the EG than for the CG was observed. A significant difference between the two groups was also observed for this gait assessment (SMW: p ≤ 0.003). No statistically significant differences in the TUG scores were observed between the two groups. Regarding the outcomes of the active and passive ROM of the knee and hip joints, even though they showed a general improvement, no statistically significant differences between the groups were indicated either
Conclusions:
In this study, participants who performed the pedalling exercise programme using the VR system showed as great improvement in the functional gait assessment scale as the participants who performed the pedalling exercise with the conventional methodology. Ultimately, the VR pedalling system can be used to foster physical activity in people with ataxia or hemiparesis Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05162040
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.