Effects of Virtual Reality Versus Motor Imagery in Children With Cerebral Palsy

Summary

Cerebral palsy is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by brain injury that appears in infancy, children have mostly issues of gross motor functions, and activities of daily living. Virtual Reality is an innovative technique for the improvement of balance and motor function in most of the neurological conditions. Motor Imagery is an ability to engage in the mental representation of a task consciously without generating a voluntary movement. The aim of this study is to determine the comparative effects of Virtual Reality and Motor Imagery on balance, gross motor function and activities of daily living in children with cerebral palsy.

Conditions

• Cerebral Palsy

Interventions

OTHER

Routine Physical Therapy+ Balance Training

Each session will be begun with routine PT treatment and lasted for 45 minutes in total. To start, the participants will be asked to do warm-up exercises, sitting comfortably on a chair with their backs and feet well supported, the participants will be instructed to breathe in and out. Warm-up exercises will be carried out for 5 minutes. Stretching exercises will be performed for 15 minutes per session, and stretches were held for 30 seconds with four repetitions of each of the following areas, shoulder flexors, elbow and wrist flexors, hip flexors, hip adductors, knee flexors, and calf, 10 seconds of rest period will be added after stretching of one muscle group. Participants will have a 15 minutes session of exercises neck holding on form roller for 1 minute with two repetitions, astride-sitting on foam roller for 2 minutes with four repetitions, weight on both hands on gym ball for 1 minute with two repetitions and hip adductors strengthening for 1 minute with three repetitions.

OTHER

Virtual Reality+ Routine Physical Therapy

The exercises will be selected, and the difficulty level will be gradually increased according to participant's performance. Starting from the penguin slide, they will progress to table tilt. Initially, each game will be played for 2 minutes per session. With the progression of performance, 4 minutes of table tilt will be added. While playing this game, a typical mobility pattern will be initiated, and balance will be improved. In the same week, the subjects performed single-leg extensions for 1 minutes. In the following weeks, Balance Bubble, Advanced step, and Basic Run will be added to the plan. The participants will perform these activities for 7 minutes per session. Treatment sessions then progressed to motor function games, including bowling, tennis, kicking, and boxing (least challenging to most challenging), with most treatment sessions ending with boxing will be provided for 7 minutes and routine physical therapy for 30 minutes as explained in control group.

OTHER

Motor Imagery+ Routine Physical Therapy

The 15 minutes of Motor Imagery session will be provided to participants. It's a three step process that will be used to incorporate the technique. Step I, The self-recorded videos of the principal researcher performing a normal movements will be shown to participant. Step II, The participants will be asked to imagine movement with eyes closed, and breathe deeply. Step III The participants will be asked to perform the movement you watched in video and routine physical therapy of 30 minutes will be provided. During the presentation of a video clip, patients will watch the video and afterwards try to do movement as same as shown in video.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Riphah International University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Muhammad Kashif, PhD-PT · Riphah International University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-02-25

Primary Completion

2024-08-31

Completion

2024-08-31

Countries

• Pakistan

Study Locations