Non-immersive virtual reality based treatment for children with unilateral cerebral palsy: Preliminary results.
Paolo Meriggi, Martina Mandalà, Mattia Randazzo and 7 others
PMID 38489200WHAT IT FOUND
Six children with unilateral cerebral palsy accepted a non-immersive virtual reality upper-limb programme; some found it boring or tiring.
Motor scores and daily hand use improved, but no control group means the VR treatment cannot be shown to cause the gains.
Key findings
01The VR treatment was positively accepted by all participants, with 100% of answers to the first satisfaction question rated good.
02Some children reported discomfort or pain on the impaired side, and 33% of game feedback called the activities boring.
03All participants showed an increase in MA2 scores, while the Modified Ashworth Scale did not change.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Only six children with unilateral cerebral palsy were treated, and they were not compared with a usual-care control group. The children were also receiving conventional neuromotor rehabilitation, so the study cannot separate the effect of the VR games from ongoing usual therapy. The study had no follow-up after the 10 sessions, so it does not show whether any changes lasted. Satisfaction data were collected for only 36 of the 60 treatments, so the acceptability picture is incomplete. The authors state that data validity and reliability were not formally verified. The VITAMIN process measures were inconsistent, with different trajectory and efficiency patterns across children. The kinematic comparison used five typically developing children only as reference data for movement curves, not as a treatment control. No formal therapist usability, feasibility, or sustainability data were collected.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists research support as non-U.S. government, but no specific funder or conflict-of-interest statement is given. The VITAMIN platform was designed and built by Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, the same center where the study was conducted.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the higher MA2 and ABILHAND-Kids scores as proof that VITAMIN VR works. Only six children were studied, they also received conventional neuromotor rehabilitation, there was no usual-care control group, and no follow-up was done.