Effectiveness of kinect gaming technology in rehabilitation of stroke patients with hemiplegic upper extremity

The benefits of conventional rehabilitation methods may be limited and patients may loss their motivation for treatment. Virtual reality rehabilitation, as a new treatment method may improve the benefits of rehabilitation program, increase the motivation and adherence of the patients to the treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the adjunctive role of virtual reality with Kinect gaming system in rehabilitation of stroke patients having motor impairment in upper extremities. Totally 27 stroke patients with Brunnstrom stage 3 or higher for arm and hand were included in the study. The patients were randomly divided into two treatment groups: Group 1 (14 patients) 30 sessions of conventional rehabilitation plus virtual reality training and group 2 (13 patients) received conventional rehabilitation alone as the control group. Virtual reality included, tennis, golf, bowling, boxing, dart and fruit-ninja games. Demographic data, Brunnstrom and spasticity stages, functional ambulation classification, functional independence measure, Wolf Motor Function Test and Fugl Meyer upper limb assessment scores were recorded. Treatment satisfaction was assessed by VAS and treatment satisfaction questionnaire. Initially, there was no significant differences in patient characteristics. After treatment, there were significant improvements in all parameters assessed in Group 1. In Group 2, the improvements in Brunnstrom hand and lower extremity stages, wrist and finger spasticity did not reach a significant value. Post-treatment, functional ambulation classification, functional independence measure self care, functional independence measure total scores were significantly higher in group 1. Patients in first group were more satisfied. We report successful integration of virtual reality training in conventional rehabilitation program on the activities of daily living and ambulation for stroke patients. Virtual reality has several advantages such as providing repetitive task-specific training, an enriched environment and opportunity to simulate real-world activities. In this study, we primarily focused on upper extremity, however, we detected higher improvements in lower extremity functions, also.