Play-based interventions improve physical function for people with adult-acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract

Play-based interventions for people with adult acquired brain injury are more effective in improving balance and independence, which may be due to them being more enjoyable than traditional therapy.

Feasibility of ActivABLES to promote home-based exercise and physical activity of community-dwelling stroke survivors with support from caregivers: A mixed methods study

“…Technical applications, such as virtual reality and computer games, can support stroke survivors with homebased exercise [28,29], encourage them to adhere to the exercises [25,[30][31][32] and decrease sedentary behaviour [30]. Stroke survivors with mild to moderate residual deficits have been shown to benefit more in terms of functional improvements with use of technical applications than stroke survivors with more severe deficits [31].…”

“…Stroke survivors with mild to moderate residual deficits have been shown to benefit more in terms of functional improvements with use of technical applications than stroke survivors with more severe deficits [31]. Technical applications can offer a variety of repetitive and challenging functional tasks [29,31] that can encourage plasticity of the brain and enhance motor learning. Stroke survivors are generally willing to use technical applications to assist with home-based exercise [32][33][34] and many studies have investigated different technical approaches [24,30,35,36].…”

“…Virtual reality has been defined as a user-computer interface with real-time simulation and has been shown to increase activity significantly more than conventional therapy [31,37]. Game-based interventions are thought to be more enjoyable than traditional therapy and have shown to be more effective in improving balance and independence than traditional exercises in stroke survivors [29]. This evidence supports the hypothesis that technical approaches have the potential to be used to promote home-based exercise and physical activity among stroke survivors.…”

Virtual Reality for Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Data on the effects of cognitive function and quality of life are more limited. As underlined by two recent systematic reviews ( 18 , 19 ), VR allows a level of engagement and cognitive involvement, higher than the one provided by memory and imagination, but is more controlled and can be more easily measured than that offered by direct “real” experience. Its multisensory stimulation means VR can be considered an enriched environment that can offer functional and ecological real-world demands (e.g., finding objects, assembling things, and buying stuff) that may improve brain plasticity and regenerative processes ( 20 – 22 ).…”

Feasibility, Safety and Efficacy of a Virtual Reality Exergame System to Supplement Upper Extremity Rehabilitation Post-Stroke: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial and Proof of Principle

“…The so-called exergames or exergaming reflect the idea of exercising through computer games. A number of published reviews and meta-analyses have examined the use of VR and video games for post-stroke rehabilitation, focusing on or including UE rehabilitation [3,4,6,[8][9][10][11].…”