Investigating the Effects of Nintendo Wii on Ankle Spasticity in Patients with Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is one of the most common causes of disability. Spasticity is a common clinical impairment that occurs after a stroke. This study investigates the effect of Nintendo Wii games on the outcomes of spasticity, functional mobility, and quality of life in patients with stroke. Materials and Methods: In this single-blind clinical trial study, 30 patients with stroke were randomly assigned to one of the experimental and control groups. Subjects of both groups received conventional physiotherapy. In addition, the experimental group also received Nintendo Wii games for 30 min, three times a week for a total of 12 sessions. The primary outcomes spasticity and functional mobility that respectively evaluated using the modified modified Ashworth scale (MMAS) and the timed up-and-go test before and after the treatment. The assessor was blind about group assignment. Meanwhile, the secondary outcome included quality of life. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software, version 20. Results: The intragroup results showed that in the experimental group, spasticity was significantly reduced (P=0.001), functional mobility improved (P=0.001), and the quality of life increased significantly (P<0.001); however, in the control group, only a significant improvement in functional mobility (P=0.04) was observed. The comparison between the two groups showed that there is no statistically significant difference in the results between the experimental and control groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: Considering these results, the use of Nintendo Wii can be suggested as a treatment modality alongside the usual treatments to achieve more and faster effectiveness in patients with stroke.