Effect of Traditional Plus Virtual Reality Rehabilitation on Prognosis of Stroke Survivors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

OBJECTIVE

Virtual reality technology has begun to be gradually applied to clinical stroke rehabilitation. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of traditional plus virtual reality rehabilitation on motor function recovery, balance, and activities of daily living in stroke patients.

METHOD

Studies published in English before October 2020 were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library. This study used RevMan 5.3 software for meta-analysis.

RESULT

A total of 21 randomized controlled trials were included, which enrolled 619 patients. Traditional plus virtual reality rehabilitation is better than traditional rehabilitation in upper limb motor function recovery measured by Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity (mean difference = 3.49, 95% confidence interval = 1.24 to 5.73, P = 0.002) and manual dexterity assessed by Box and Block Test (mean difference = 6.59, 95% confidence interval = 3.45 to 9.74, P < 0.0001). However, there is no significant difference from traditional rehabilitation in activities of daily living assessed by Functional Independence Measure (mean difference = 0.38, 95% confidence interval = -0.26 to 1.02, P = 0.25) and balance assessed by Berg Balance Scale (mean difference = 2.18, 95% confidence interval = -0.35 to 4.71, P = 0.09).

CONCLUSIONS

Traditional plus virtual reality rehabilitation therapy is an effective method to improve the upper limb motor function and manual dexterity of patients with limb disorders after stroke, and immersive virtual reality rehabilitation treatment may become a new option for rehabilitation after stroke.