Functional changes in the lower extremity after non-immersive virtual reality and physiotherapy following stroke

Area of Science:

• Neurorehabilitation
• Robotics in Medicine
• Physical Therapy

Background:

• Stroke often leads to significant motor, balance, and gait disturbances.
• Conventional physiotherapy is a cornerstone of stroke rehabilitation.
• Emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) offer novel therapeutic avenues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of VR therapy combined with conventional physiotherapy.
• To assess improvements in balance, gait, and motor function post-stroke.
• To determine VR therapy's impact on motor recovery in subacute and chronic stroke phases.

Main Methods:

• 59 stroke inpatients were stratified into subacute (n=31) and chronic (n=28) groups.
• Interventions included 15 sessions of VR therapy combined with conventional physiotherapy.
• Evaluations used clinical scales (FM LE, FIM, BBS, FAC, MAS, 10MWT) and kinematic parameters.

Main Results:

• The subacute group showed significant improvements in most variables, excluding MAS and length.
• The chronic group demonstrated significant improvements in clinical scales, but not kinematics.
• Motor impairment improved across severe, moderate, and mild severity levels (based on FM LE scores).

Conclusions:

• VR therapy, when combined with conventional physiotherapy, promotes functional recovery.
• The benefits are observed in both subacute and chronic phases following a stroke.
• High correlations were found between clinical scales and kinematic parameters, particularly FM LE, BBS, MAS, and speed.