Background: Limited evidence is available about the effectiveness of virtual reality using low cost commercial consoles for children with developmental delay.
Objective: The aim of this preliminary study is to evaluate the usefulness of a videogame system based on non-immersive virtual reality technology (Xbox 360 KinectTM) to support conventional rehabilitation treatment of children with cerebral palsy. Secondarily, to objectify changes in psychomotor status of children with cerebral palsy after receiving rehabilitation treatment in addition with this last generation game console.
Methods: 11 children with cerebral palsy were included the study. A baseline, a post-treatment and a follow-up assessment were performed related to motor and the process skills, balance, gait speed, running and jumping and fine and manual finger dexterity. All the participants completed 8 weeks of videogame treatment, added to their conventional physiotherapy treatment, with Xbox 360 Kinect™ (Microsoft) game console.
Results: The Friedman test showed significant differences among the three assessments for each variable: GMFM (p = 0.001), AMPS motor (p = 0.001), AMPS process (p = 0.010), PRT (p = 0.005) and 10 MW (p = 0.029). Wilcoxon test showed significant statistically differences pre and post-treatment, in all the values. Similarly, results revealed significant differences between basal and follow-up assessment. There were not statistical differences between post-treatment and follow-up evaluation, indicating a long-term maintenance of the improvements achieved after treatment.
Conclusions: Low cost video games based on motion capture are potential tools in the rehabilitation context in children with CP. Our Kinect Xbox 360 protocol has showed improvements in balance and ADL in CP participants in a school environment, but further studies are need to validate the potential benefits of these video game systems as a supplement for rehabilitation of children with CP.
Keywords: Cerebral palsy; child; rehabilitation; video games; virtual reality.