CINEMATIC ANALYSIS OF PATIENTS WITH STROKE DURING GAMING OF DARTS IN VIRTUAL AND REAL ENVIRONMENTS
Cerebrovascular Disorders; Hemiparesis; Upper Limb Motion; Video Analysis; Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy.
Introduction: Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability resulting in sensorimotor impairments that compromise functionality in the individuals' ADLs. Thus, virtual reality technologies have been used increasingly aimed at motor rehabilitation. However, there is little evidence that the movements performed in virtual environments are similar to those made in physical environments. Objective: Analyze kinematics components of the upper limb in stroke patients during a game of darts in virtual and real environment. Methodology: The comparative transversal study with a sample of 11 chronic hemiparesis. The virtual environment was presented at the XBOX 360 Kinect® and the real environment used a professional dart game.Participants performed 15 trials of each game and the kinematics of the upper limb was recorded on video for analysis in Kinovea Software.The environments were compared using the t-Student test. Results: There were significant differences between the virtual and real environments.The real game showed higher elbow extension angle (p = 0.008), greater shoulder flexion (p = 0.008) and a higher mean speed of the shoulder (p = 0.001), elbow (p = 0.0001) and wrist (p = 0.001) path. As to velocity and acceleration peaks, maximum values were found in the real game shoulder (p = 0.04), elbow (p = 0.002) and wrist (p = 0.002) velocity, and elbow (p = 0.004) and wrist (p = 0.028) acceleration. The flexion and extension speeds were higher in the real game shoulder (p = 0.021), elbow (p = 0.004; p = 0.005) and wrist (p = 0.009; p = 0.039). The virtual game got longer flexion (p = 0.0001) and extension (p = 0.021) and a higher performance (p <0.0001).Conclusions: The dart game can be used in the rehabilitation of the upper limb after stroke according to the objectives that therapy wants to achieve. If the main goal is precision of movement, control of degrees of freedom and postural adjustments the virtual game shows to be more effective. If the goals is to improved coordination interarticular and refine the motor control, then the real game is a good option.