Virtual Reality Intervention for Stroke Rehabilitation

Summary

In Israel approximately 16,000 people have a stroke each year. Most of these people suffer from weakness or paralysis of half of their body which leads to difficulties performing basic activities of daily life (BADL) such as dressing and walking. Due to the stroke, these individuals need to undergo intensive rehabilitation. After rehabilitation, physical activity has been strongly recommended to maintain their functional level which was achieved during rehabilitation. In addition regular physical activity can prevent secondary condition However, recent findings suggest that people with stroke do not perform enough physical activity with their upper and lower extremities.

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) for rehabilitation has been found to have potential for encouraging active purposeful movement. Many researchers have assessed the feasibility \& usability of different VR systems and environments for individuals with stroke. Costly VR systems in addition to off-the-shelf video game consoles (e.g. Sony PlayStation EyeToy, Nintendo Wii) have been found to have great potential to encourage active purposeful movement. However, to date, only a limited number of studies have investigated the effectiveness of VR therapy post-stroke.

Since physical activity is important after stroke and the fact that individuals with stroke are not participating sufficiently in physical activity, I suggest to carry out this study.

The overall aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of using novel technology of VR therapy to promote the participation in daily physical activity of individuals with stroke. A 'Community based' VR program will be compared to a traditional therapy program in promoting daily physical activity of the lower and upper extremities.

It is hypothesized that the VR intervention will be more efficient than the traditional therapy in promoting physical activity (walking and use of the weak upper extremity).

Conditions

• Stroke

Interventions

OTHER

Virtual Reality

The VR-therapy will include the playing of various virtual reality or video-games which encourages the use of the extremities while sitting and standing

OTHER

Traditional Therapy

The traditional therapy will include exercise for balance and walking and for the upper extremity using traditional therapeutic tools such as balls, weights, chairs, bands, steps, etc.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• European Commission

  collaborator OTHER

• Sheba Medical Center

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• Debbie Rand, PhD · Tel Aviv University

• Harold Weingarden, MD · Sheba Medical Center

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

80 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-09-30

Primary Completion

2013-08-31

Completion

2013-08-31