Effects of a Gaming Platform on Balance Training for Children With Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Balance training using a PC gaming platform may improve exercise compliance and enhance recovery of balance in children with cerebral palsy.

The Rehabilitative Effects of Virtual Reality Games on Balance Performance among Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The characteristics of 11 included studies are listed in Table 1. These studies were published from 2010 to 2019, with 7 in English [14,30,31,32,33,34,35], 3 in Chinese [36,37,38] and 1 in Korean [39]. Despite the fact that all subjects were children with CP, there were differences among them (children with paralytic hemiplegia, children with postoperative cerebral palsy, children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy, children with spastic diplegia, children with spastic hemiplegia, and children with spastic quadriplegia).…”

“…Compared with intervention groups, control groups included strength training and neurodevelopmental therapy apart from regular rehabilitation. On top of that, in the 11 studies, 8 had only one outcome indicator of balance, and the other 3 [14,30,34] had two outcome indicators of balance.…”

An Accessible Training Device for Children With Cerebral Palsy

“…Increased anterior tibial activity can overcome the spasm and stiffness of plantar flexion during gait training in children with CP [2,4]. Repeated ankle flexion/extension exercises improve gait and balance because they promote muscle strengthening and ankle joint flexibility and can prevent plantar flexor contracture [5][6]. A previous study also applied an ankle robot system for children with CP to manipulate the device and improve their ankle range of motion [7].…”

“…An increasing number of studies have investigated the effects of interventions in improving the functional abilities of children with CP who have different ability levels. The training effect on pediatric rehabilitation is dependent on the physical characteristics associated with CP (e.g., muscle tone, range of motion, and balance) [4][5][6] as well as traits such as motivation, attention, and cognition [7][8][9]. However, increasing motivation for pediatric rehabilitation is important.…”

“…Owing to their attractive scenario and potential for independent practice, web games have been popularly used in motion training [5,14]. Some researchers have studied web games integrated with interactive sensory information for rehabilitation [5,15]. However, for children with CP, specialized or commercial web games (e.g., PlayStation and Xbox) are complex and expensive and not easy to operate.…”