Alternative Therapies for Improving Motor Impairment, Fall-risk and Overall Physical Function

Summary

Neurological impairment such as stroke and aging is a leading cause of adult disability. Traditional rehabilitative therapies can help regain motor function and ameliorate disability. There are increasing community and other facilities offering rehabilitation in the form of conventional, recreational and alternative (Yoga, Tai-chi) therapy. However, the implementation of these conventional therapy techniques in individuals with a neurological disorder like stroke and the elderly population is tedious, resource-intensive, and costly, often requiring transportation of patients to specialized facilities. Based on recent evidence suggesting significant benefits of repetitive, task-orientated training, investigators propose to evaluate the feasibility of an alternative therapies such as exergaming based therapy to improve overall physical function of community-dwelling individuals with neurological impairments and the elderly, compared to conventional therapeutic rehabilitation. This pilot study aims to systematically obtain pilot data on compliance and efficacy as well as performing power analysis and sample size calculation for developing it into a randomized controlled trial for extramural funding purposes. The objective of the study is to determine the safety, feasibility, compliance and efficacy of exergaming therapy to improve overall physical function of community-dwelling chronic stroke individuals and the elderly population.

Conditions

• Chronic Stroke
• Healthy Aging

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive-motor exergaming

Participants undergo 6 weeks of cognitive-motor exergaming using Wii-fit Nintendo. The 6 weeks included a total of 20 session distributed in the following manner: 5 sessions/week for 1-2 week, 3 session/week for 3-4 week, 2 sessions/week for 5-6 week. Each session lasted for about 90 minutes with rests included.

BEHAVIORAL

Conventional balance Training

Participants undergo 6 weeks of conventional exercise training. The 6 weeks included a total of 20 session distributed in the following manner: 5 sessions/week for 1-2 week, 3 session/week for 3-4 week, 2 sessions/week for 5-6 week. Each session lasted for about 90 minutes with rests included.

BEHAVIORAL

Dance Therapy for Stroke

Participants will receive therapy using the "Just Dance" using the commercially available Kinect gaming system (Microsoft Inc, Redmond, WA, USA. Each song involves repetitive action for each dance step (at least 20 repetitions over the entire song) and visual cues on the screen (a stick figure at the bottom right) indicating the upcoming dance step. Participant's playing the game to reduce risk of exercise related adverse effects. Participants will dance on 10 songs starting from a slow-pace progressing to a medium pace (each max 5 minutes long). Participants will receive 5 minutes rest after playing on each song. This will be conducted by two physical therapists.

BEHAVIORAL

Dance Therapy for Older adults

Participants will receive therapy using the "Just Dance" using the commercially available Kinect gaming system (Microsoft Inc, Redmond, WA, USA. Each song involves repetitive action for each dance step (at least 20 repetitions over the entire song) and visual cues on the screen (a stick figure at the bottom right) indicating the upcoming dance step. Participant's playing the game to reduce risk of exercise related adverse effects. Participants will dance on 10 songs starting from a slow-pace progressing to a medium pace (each max 5 minutes long). Participants will receive 5 minutes rest after playing on each song. This will be conducted by two therapists.

BEHAVIORAL

Home education for Older adults

Participants will receive a one-hour education on conventional physical exercises.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Aging (NIA)

  collaborator NIH

• University of Illinois at Chicago

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Tanvi S Bhatt, PhD · University of Illinois at Chicago

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

SINGLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

90 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-12-04

Primary Completion

2016-10-25

Completion

2016-10-25

Countries

• United States

Study Locations