Is Virtual Reality Eﬀective for Balance Recovery in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2020 · DOI: 10.3390/jcm9092861 · Published: September 4, 2020

Spinal Cord Injury Assistive Technology Neurorehabilitation

Simple Explanation

Virtual reality (VR) is being explored as a way to help people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) regain balance, movement, and motor skills. This study looks at whether VR systems can effectively help SCI patients improve their balance. The review found that VR interventions, when added to traditional physical therapy, show promise in helping SCI patients recover their balance.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

188 participants

Evidence Level

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Key Findings

1
Statistical analysis showed favorable results for balance measured by the modiﬁed Functional Reach Test (standardized mean diﬀerence (SMD) = 3.42; 95% conﬁdence interval: 2.54 to 4.29) and by the t-shirt test (SMD= −2.29; 95% conﬁdence interval: −3.00 to −1.59).
2
VR interventions provided potential benefits, in addition to conventional physical therapy, to recover balance in patients with SCI.
3
All the studies reported signiﬁcant eﬀects on balance recovery for VR interventions compared to CPT.

Research Summary

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to analyze the eﬀectiveness of VR interventions on balance recovery in patients with SCI, compared to CPT. The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis showed potential beneﬁts using VR interventions in addition to CPT to recover balance in patients with SCI. The limited number of studies analyzed implies that the results must be taken with caution.

Practical Implications

Clinical Neurorehabilitation

VR interventions have a positive impact, since patients with SCI usually present severe limitations on their participation and performance of the activities of daily living.

Patient Motivation and Adherence

The inclusion of VR interventions in clinical practice could generate more patient motivation and treatment adherence.

Virtual Safe Environments

VR interventions allow performance of diﬀerent activities in virtual safe environments.

Study Limitations

1
The limited number of studies analyzed implies that the results must be taken with caution.
2
The small sample sizes and the diﬀerent injury levels of the patients included in the studies could inﬂuence the statistical analysis, misrepresenting the results obtained.
3
Heterogeneous protocols used, the diﬀerent program and session durations, and the diﬀerent CPT protocols used.

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