Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Cell Phones Rehab Games!

Paired Groups

Motor performance of individuals with cerebral palsy in a virtual game using a mobile phone

de Paula JN, de Mello Monteiro CB, da Silva TD, Capelini CM, de Menezes LDC, Massetti T, Tonks J, Watson S & Nicolai RĂ© AH

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol. 2017 Nov 1:1-5.

doi: 10.1080/17483107.2017.1392620. [Epub ahead of print]

Link to abstract: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29092683

This seems a great combination for children with cerebral palsy: Game play encouraged on cell phones for motor improvement.

What? For children with cerebral palsy, does game play on a mobile phone result in motor improvement compared to a control group?

How? Participants with cerebral palsy (GMFCS level I and MACS level I) played 25 repetitions of a maze game on cell phones. They were sex- and age-matched with normally developing children. Then they were introduced to a new maze task for 5 trials.

Findings: "We found a significant improvement in the movement time between the first (trial) attempt relative to the last (trial) attempt for the individuals with CP". They did not retain this speed improvement in the new maze task.