Virtual Activities of Daily Living for Recovery of Upper Extremity Motor Function

• Published in: IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering 2018-01, Vol.26 (1), p.252-260
• Main Authors: Adams, Richard J., Lichter, Matthew D., Ellington, Allison, White, Marga, Armstead, Kate, Patrie, James T., Diamond, Paul T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Arm; Avatars; Computer Simulation; Electronic mail; Extremities; Female; human computer interaction; human motion tracking; human motor performance; Humans; Male; Medical treatment; Middle Aged; Motion; Motor Skills; Occupational Therapy - methods; Protocols; Recovery of Function; Stroke Rehabilitation - methods; stroke therapy; Survivors; Treatment Outcome; Upper Extremity; Upper extremity rehabilitation; Virtual Reality
• ISSN: 1534-4320; 1558-0210; 1558-0210
• DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2017.2771272

A study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of virtual activities of daily living (ADL) practice using the SaeboVR software system for the recovery of upper extremity (UE) motor function following stroke. The system employs Kinect sensor-based tracking to translate human UE motion into the anatomical pose of the arm of the patient's avatar within a virtual environment, creating a virtual presence within a simulated task space. Patients gain mastery of 12 different integrated activities while traversing a metaphorical "road to recovery" that includes thematically linked levels and therapist-selected difficulty settings. Clinical trials were conducted under the study named Virtual Occupational Therapy Application. A total of 15 chronic phase stroke survivors completed a protocol involving three sessions per week over eight weeks, during which they engaged in repetitive task practice through performance of the virtual ADLs. Results show a clinically important improvement and statistically significant difference in Fugl-Meyer UE assessment scores in the study population of chronic stroke survivors over the eight-week interventional period compared with a non-interventional control period of equivalent duration. Statistically significant and clinically important improvements are also found in the wolf motor function test scores. These results provide new evidence for the use of virtual ADL practice as a tool for UE therapy for stroke patients. Limitations of the study include non-blinded assessments and the possibility of selection and/or attrition bias.