Effect of Virtual Reality on Upper Extremity Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Meta-analysis
Chen, Y-P., Lee, S-Y. & Howard A.M.
Pediatric Physical Therapy 2014:00 1 - 12
DOI: 10.1097/PEP.0000000000000046
Link to abstract:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24819682
Purpose: To systematically examine studies that consider the effect of active video games, virtual reality and robot therapy (VR) on improving upper extremity motor function in children with CP.
Method: A considered search strategy was used to include 14 research articles. A scoring system was used for the 3 RCTs, for 10 case series and one cohort study; a level of evidence was assigned to each based on the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine rating system.
Results: The RCT studies compared VR to traditional therapy, and the case series compared children before and after VR interventions. 5 studies were based on commercially available systems: Wii (1), Sony EyeToy Play (1), Gesturetek (3); the rest were experimental, custom engineered systems (7) or robot assisted interventions (2). The meta-analysis reports the 3 RCTs showed effectiveness for VR vs. traditional therapy, and ‘at least one positive change in one outcome measure in all the case series’. No relationship was seen between effectiveness and intervention length, duration, or frequency. Engineer-built experimental systems are found to be more effective than commercial systems. Commercially available active video games do not meet children’s needs as they cannot be adjusted individually to the child. Overall, the evidence was poor to fair. This meta-analysis makes no conclusive recommendations.