Effectiveness of virtual reality treatment after flexor tendon surgery: Preliminary results

Abstract

Biofeedback can improve the effectiveness of an intervention as a helpful tool in the physiological process of rehabilitation. In our study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of Virtual Reality (VR) in the rehabilitation of patients with flexor tendon repair. Twenty patients with flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and/or flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendon repair were included in the study and randomized into two groups: VR and traditional treatment. VR was administered with the HandTutor™ device from postoperative 8th week for 3 weeks, 3 sessions per week. Both groups were given splinting and progressively increased exercise as a home program. Before and after treatment, patients were assessed using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) outcome measure and hand grip strength was measured using a Jamar dynamometer. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to compare dependent variables and the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare independent groups. The mean age of the patients was 35.4 ± 13.8 years. 10% of the patients had FDS, 40% had FDP, 50% had FDS and FDP tendon injuries. There was a significant decrease in DASH scores and a significant increase in hand grip strength in both VR ( P = 0.008) and traditional treatment groups ( P = 0.003). In between-group comparisons, no significant difference was found in DASH scores ( P = 0.110). However, the increase in hand grip strength was significantly greater in the VR treatment than that in the traditional treatment group ( P = 0.030). The results of this pilot study support the use of HandTutor™ with traditional therapy in hand rehabilitation after flexor tendon repair and warrant further studies with larger samples.