Abstract
There is a need to support individuals with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) to achieve optimal functionality in everyday life and with meaningful tasks and activities, throughout stages of the disease progression. Thus, technological developments have created an exciting opportunity for the use of affordable virtual reality (VR) systems with different kinds of interaction devices, providing an efficient and fun tool for enabling improvement in motor performance.Objective: To compare performance on a virtual task using interfaces with and without physical contact in order to identify functionality by using different devices in individuals with DMD.Methods: One hundred and twenty male individuals took part on this study: 60 with DMD with a mean age of 16 ± 5 (range 9–34 years old) and 60 without DMD in the control group (CG) matched by age. Participants were divided into three groups of 20 individuals each which performed a virtual task in three different interfaces: Kinect®, computer Touch Screen and Leap Motion®, in a cross over design in which all participants used all devices. Motor impairment in the DMD group was measured by using the Motor Function Measurement and Vignos scales.Results: All participants improved performance through practice, regardless of the interface used, although the DMD group had a continuous lower performance compared to the CG. In addition, the DMD group obtained a significant better performance with Leap Motion interface compared to the other interfaces, while the CG presented better performance on Touch Screen interface.Conclusion: Leap Motion provided better performance for individuals with DMD due to enablement of distal muscle function and ease of instrument adjustment using the virtual interface. Therefore, this type of interface should be encouraged for promoting functionality on general tasks using computer systems. Clinical Trial register number: NCT02891434.
Highlights
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is an inherited recessive genetic disease characterized by the absence of dystrophin protein in muscle fiber membrane resulting from a mutation of the Xp21 gene [1], and has an incidence of ∼1 in every 3,500 males [2]
Both groups increased the number of BT from First Attempt (FA) (M = 70) to Last Attempt (LA) (M = 78)
Interaction for group by interface [F(2, 114) = 7.4, p = 0.001, ηp2 = 0.12] was found indicating a difference between the DMD and control group (CG) with DMD performing worse on all interfaces, on Touch Screen (M = 105 and 52, respectively), Leap Motion (M = 86 and 62, respectively), and Kinect (M = 81 and 57, respectively)
Summary
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is an inherited recessive genetic disease characterized by the absence of dystrophin protein in muscle fiber membrane resulting from a mutation of the Xp21 gene [1], and has an incidence of ∼1 in every 3,500 males [2]. Individuals with DMD become increasingly dependent on caregivers for daily activities, requiring more assistance and care overtime [5, 6]. There is a need to support individuals with DMD to achieve optimal functionality in everyday life and with meaningful tasks and activities, throughout stages of the disease progression. Computer games were used in the training of respiratory muscles during various stages of disease progression in 15 males with DMD to successfully engage and improve respiratory performance in participants who had moderate impairment in lung function tests [9]. A new technique for functional assessment of upper limbs through exercises in virtual environment was evaluated, and results showed that the VR simulator had the ability to assess strength capacity in patients with DMD [10]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
