Serious games for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke: a meta-analysis.
Ioannis Doumas, Gauthier Everard, Stéphanie Dehem and 1 others
PMID 34130713WHAT IT FOUND
Serious games designed for rehabilitation improved upper limb function, activity, and participation after stroke compared to conventional therapy.
Games that followed at least 8 of 11 neurorehabilitation principles showed significantly better results than those that followed fewer.
Key findings
01Rehabilitation using serious games led to significantly better improvements in upper limb motor function compared to conventional treatment.
02Serious games that complied with more than 8 out of 11 neurorehabilitation principles led to better overall effects irrespective of the technological device used.
03Long term effect retention was maintained for upper limb function at follow-up.
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
Heterogeneity across studies was moderate to high for upper limb function and activity outcomes, which may affect the precision of the pooled estimates. Only 50% of the included studies provided follow-up data, limiting the certainty of long-term retention findings for activity and participation. The analysis relied on estimated standard deviations and correlation coefficients for some studies where raw data were unavailable. No methods were used to detect unpublished trials, which could introduce publication bias, although funnel plots did not show asymmetry.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that any commercial video game or virtual reality system will produce these benefits. The positive outcomes were specifically linked to games designed for rehabilitation that adhered to at least 8 of the 11 neurorehabilitation principles. Off-the-shelf entertainment software may not provide the same therapeutic effect.