Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 16, 2025
Author Spotlight: Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients With a Digital Occupational Training System
Published on: December 29, 2023
Isolated effects of virtual reality training on upper limb motor function in patients with stroke: systematic review
Iván José Fuentes-Abolafio1,2, Rodrigo Martín-San Agustín3, Juan Manuel Henriquez-Jurado1,2
1Grupo de Investigación Clinimetría CTS-631, Departamento de Fisioterapia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, España.
Purpose:
To synthesize evidence on the effects of virtual reality (VR) as monotherapy on upper motor function in stroke patients.
Methods:
PubMed, PEDro, CINAHL, and WOS were searched from inception to December 2024.
Results:
Nineteen studies were included (637 stroke patients, mean age 59.93 ± 6.52 years). The meta-analysis showed large effects sizes in VR interventions for upper extremity motor function and joint pain assessed with the Fugl-Meyer test (Cohen's d = 1.03, p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 1.49), being also superior when compared to a control group (Cohen's d = 0.68, p < 0.05, Cohen's d = 1.07). In contrast, these are not statistically significant when the analyses for motor function are done considering immersive or non-immersive VR. Non-immersive RV showed a large effect size on the Motor Activity Log Amount of Use (Cohen's d = 1.20) and Motor Activity Log Quality of Movement (Cohen's d = 1.35). RV also showed a medium effect size on the Action Research Arm Test (Cohen's d = 0.61). These results were not significant when compared to a control group.
Conclusion:
VR as monotherapy improves upper limb motor function, being superior to other therapies in those functions assessed with the Fugl-Meyer scale. It is inconclusive if one VR modality is superior to another for improvements on upper limb motor function.
