Serious games as rehabilitation tools in neurological conditions: A comprehensive review

The use of serious games (SG) in rehabilitation has been on the rise in recent years and they are used as either a main interventional tool, or as an adjunct alongside conventional therapies. This is largely due to its virtue of being an electronic platform hence possessing game characteristics that facilitates patient progress.

The present study aimed to provide a comprehensive review of the impact of SG on neurorehabilitation therapies as well as patients' perspectives on rehabilitation.

The literature search was conducted in PubMed and Cochrane databases. The study was conducted in four different phases, consisting of the generation of MeSH terms and keywords, screening of articles, and data analysis based on the study characteristics.

This review included 47 studies that explored the use of custom designed experimental serious games (ESG) or commercially designed serious games (CSG) for rehabilitation in a few neurological conditions. The majority of CSG used Nintendo Wii as an adjunct to conventional therapies. Significant improvement in the primary outcomes such as motor functioning, balance, executive and cognitive functions were reported in 35 studies. 17 studies also indicated patient perspectives on rehabilitation. There was no difference between the overall impact of either CSG or ESG.

Evidently, SG are efficient exergame tools. However, future studies should explore patient perspectives that could help to design evidence-based games for rehabilitation purposes.