A new study sug­gests that vir­tual real­ity and other video games involv­ing motion can enhance motor improve­ment after a stroke. The improve­ment seems to be greater than the one observed with tra­di­tional therapy.

This result is quite promis­ing since 55 to 75% of stroke sur­vivors expe­ri­ence motor prob­lem in their arms.

The study was a meta-analysis that looked at 12 pre­vi­ously pub­lished stud­ies, for a total of 195 patients. Most were obser­va­tional stud­ies in which the patients used a vari­ety of vir­tual (e.g., Wii) and non-virtual  (e.g., Glasstron) games dur­ing ther­apy. In the 5 ran­dom­ized stud­ies, a group of patients was assigned to stan­dard ther­apy and another to vir­tual real­ity ther­apy. Patients in vir­tual real­ity ther­apy had 4.89 times higher chance of improve­ment in motor strength com­pared to patients in stan­dard therapy.

Why would vir­tual real­ity ther­apy be more efficient?

It seems that vir­tual real­ity ther­apy stim­u­lates neu­ro­plas­tic­ity more than stan­dard ther­apy. As you know neu­ro­plas­tic­ity is the brain’s abil­ity to change accord­ing to our expe­ri­ences. After an injury the brain shows neu­ro­plas­tic­ity by cre­at­ing new nerve cells and/or con­nec­tions between these. Neu­ro­plas­tic­ity in a spe­cific brain area is trig­gered by reg­u­lar stim­u­la­tion of that area via an activ­ity that involves the func­tion the area sup­ports. The more the activ­ity is chal­leng­ing, task-specific and novel the more neu­ro­plas­tic changes are likely to hap­pen.  It seems that vir­tual real­ity games pos­sess these char­ac­ter­is­tics and more so that tra­di­tional therapy.

Vir­tual real­ity gam­ing ther­apy may thus be a non-expensive, fun, moti­vat­ing and effi­cient alter­na­tive to help stroke patients recover motor strength.

Related posts:

• Brain Plas­tic­ity: How learn­ing changes your brain

• Cog­ni­tive Tests Help Deter­mine who can Drive Safely after a Stroke

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