Betker AL, Desai A, Nett C, Kapadia N, Szturm T
Goal-oriented, task-specific training has been shown to improve function; however, it can be difficult to maintain patient interest. This report describes a rehabilitation protocol for the maintenance of balance in a short-sitting position following spinal cord and head injuries by use of a centre-of-pressure-controlled video game-based tool. Three adults were treated: 1 young adult with spina bifida, 1 middle-aged adult with complete paraplegia, and 1 middle-aged adult with traumatic brain injury. All patients used wheelchairs full-time. The authors found that the patients showed increased motivation to perform the game-based exercises and increased dynamic short-sitting balance. Patients exhibited increases in practice volume and attention span during training with the game-based tool. In addition, they demonstrated substantial improvements in dynamic balance control. These observations indicate that a video game-based exercise approach can have a substantial positive effect by improving dynamic short-sitting balance.
Physical Therapy, 2007, e-publication