Exergaming as a Functional Test Battery in Patients Who Received Arthroscopic Ankle Arthrodesis: Cross-sectional Pilot Study.
Roel Hendrickx, Tim van der Avoird, Peter Pilot and 2 others
PMID 33949311WHAT IT FOUND
An exergaming test battery showed no significant difference in overall functional scores between patients who had ankle fusion surgery and healthy controls.
The small pilot study suggests the method is feasible for tracking recovery but does not yet prove it detects deficits.
Key findings
01The overall exergaming score did not significantly differ between the surgical group and the healthy control group.
02Patients with ankle fusion performed best on reverse lunges and worst on squats, while controls performed best on walking and lateral lunges.
03Gait analysis revealed increased external rotation on the operated side compared to the non-operated side in patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was very small (8 patients, 10 controls), making it underpowered to detect true differences. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show how exergaming tracks change over time during rehabilitation. There was a significant difference in BMI between groups (patients median 28 vs controls 26), which may have influenced performance. The 'gaming' aspect introduces a learning curve; it is unclear how much the score reflects physical ability versus gaming skill. Only 35% of eligible patients participated, introducing potential selection bias.
Declared interests
One author (PP) is a paid employee of ZimmerBiome, a company that manufactures orthopedic devices. The study was conducted at Zuyderland Medical Center.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of significant difference in overall scores as evidence that ankle fusion patients have normal function. The study was a small pilot with low power, and the exergaming tool may not be sensitive enough to detect the specific deficits in this population compared to healthy controls.