Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2014;113(1):258-65. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2013.09.006. Epub 2013 Sep 19.

Development of virtual reality proprioceptive rehabilitation system for stroke patients.

Cho S¹, Ku J, Cho YK, Kim IY, Kang YJ, Jang DP, Kim SI.

Author information

1: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

In this study, the virtual reality (VR) proprioception rehabilitation system was developed for stroke patients to use proprioception feedback in upper limb rehabilitation by blocking visual feedback. To evaluate its therapeutic effect, 10 stroke patients (onset>3 month) trained proprioception feedback rehabilitation for one week and visual feedback rehabilitation for another week in random order. Proprioception functions were checked before, a week after, and at the end of training. The results show the click count, error distance and total error distance among proprioception evaluation factors were significantly reduced after proprioception feedback training compared to visual feedback training (respectively, p=0.005, p=0.001, and p=0.007). In addition, subjects were significantly improved in conventional behavioral tests after training. In conclusion, we showed the effectiveness and possible use of the VR to recover the proprioception of stroke patients.