Romano Alberto, Favetta Martina, Summa Susanna, Schirinzi Tommaso, Bertini Enrico Silvio, Castelli Enrico, Vasco Gessica, Petrarca Maurizio
Movement Analysis and Robotics Laboratory (MAR Lab), Intensive Neurorehabilitation and Robotics Department, "Bambino Gesù" Children's Hospital, IRCCS, 00050 Rome, Italy.
Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", 00133 Rome, Italy.
J Clin Med. 2022 Feb 18;11(4):1065. doi: 10.3390/jcm11041065.
Children with ataxia experience balance and movement coordination difficulties and needs intensive physical intervention to maintain functional abilities and counteract the disorder. Exergaming represents a valuable strategy to provide engaging physical intervention to children with ataxia, sustaining their motivation to perform the intervention. This paper aims to describe the effect of a home-conducted exergame-based exercise training for upper body movements control of children with ataxia on their ataxic symptoms, walking ability, and hand dexterity.
Eighteen children with ataxia were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Participants in the intervention group were asked to follow a 12-week motor activity program at home using the Niurion exergame. Blind assessments of participants' ataxic symptoms, dominant and non-dominant hand dexterity, and walking ability were conducted.
On average, the participants performed the intervention for 61.5% of the expected time. At the end of the training, participants in the intervention group showed improved hand dexterity that worsened in the control group.
The presented exergame enhanced the participants' hand dexterity. However, there is a need for exergames capable of maintaining a high level of players' motivation in playing. It is advisable to plan a mixed intervention to take care of the multiple aspects of the disorder.
共济失调患儿存在平衡和运动协调困难，需要强化物理干预以维持功能能力并对抗该病症。电子游戏运动是为共济失调患儿提供引人入胜的物理干预、维持其进行干预的动力的一项有价值的策略。本文旨在描述一项基于家庭电子游戏运动的上肢运动控制训练对共济失调患儿的共济失调症状、行走能力和手部灵活性的影响。
18名共济失调患儿被随机分为干预组和对照组。干预组的参与者被要求在家中使用Niurion电子游戏遵循一项为期12周的运动活动计划。对参与者的共济失调症状、优势手和非优势手的灵活性以及行走能力进行盲法评估。
参与者平均完成了预期时间61.5%的干预。在训练结束时，干预组的参与者手部灵活性有所改善，而对照组则恶化。
所呈现的电子游戏运动增强了参与者的手部灵活性。然而，需要有能够在游戏中保持玩家高度积极性的电子游戏运动。建议规划一种混合干预措施来兼顾该病症的多个方面。
