The Rehabilitative Effects of Virtual Reality Games on Balance Performance among Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Jinlong Wu,Zhanbing Ren,Paul D Loprinzi

doi:10.3390/ijerph16214161

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate the effect of virtual reality (VR) games on balance recovery of children with cerebral palsy (CP) by quantitatively synthesizing the existing literature, and to further determine the impact of VR game intervention (the duration of each intervention, intervention frequency, intervention cycle, and total intervention time) on the balance recovery of children with CP. To this end, relevant literature up until 3 August 2019 was retrieved from Chinese databases (CNKI and Wanfang Data) and the databases in other languages (Web of Science, Pubmed, EBSCOhost, Informit, Scopus, Science Direct, and ProQuest), and bias analysis was conducted with the PEDro scale in this research. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were selected and underwent meta-analysis, and combined effect size was calculated with a random effects model. The results showed that VR games may improve the balance of children with CP (Hedge’s g = 0.29; 95% CI 0.10–0.48), and no significant influence of the intervention on balance of children with CP was shown in the subgroup analysis. In conclusion, VR games played a positive role in the improvement of balance of children with CP, but these results should be viewed with caution owing to current methodological defects (difference in measurement, heterogeneity of control groups, intervention combined with other treatments, etc.).

Highlights

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder that appears during infancy or early childhood, caused by brain injury or developmental defects [1]
Since there is scant attention paid to the balance of children with CP, the main purpose of this research is to explore the effect of virtual reality (VR) games on the enhancement of the balance of children with CP, and to further determine the influence of VR games intervention over the balance of children with CP, so as to lay an important theoretical groundwork for the effect of therapeutic intervention in the balance development of children with CP
The overall number was reduced to 367 after repeated studies were deleted through NoteExpress 3.2.0

Summary

Introduction

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder that appears during infancy or early childhood, caused by brain injury or developmental defects [1]. Organization, the incidence of CP in developed countries ranges from 0.2% to 0.3%, making it a major problem for public health [2]. Damage to the central nervous system may cause secondary injuries to children with CP, including physical spasm, amyotrophy/weak muscle tone, skeletal deformity, myasthenia, and developmental coordination disorder [3,4], which results in balance dysfunction. Well-established balance ability is a fundamental element helping individuals to learn and acquire a different level of motor skills [6]. It is important for children with CP to live an everyday life and take part in social activities and entertainment [6]. Balance function is deemed as an important indicator for the assessment of motor skills of children with CP [7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion