Effects of a multi-component virtual reality program on motor skills and functional postural control in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

Background: Pediatric neurorehabilitation has recently employed virtual reality (VR) technologies as a platform to design and implement novel modalities.

Aims: To evaluate the feasibility of a multi-component VR-based program on motor skills and functional postural control for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP).

Methods: A single-case-experimental design was conducted on eight children with HCP (12.33 ± 4.71 years and GMFCS= II, I). The VR-based program consisted of 3 sessions per week for four weeks. Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, Functional Reach Test (FRT), Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS), Activities Scale for Kids (ASK), ABILHAND-Kids, and Box and Block Test (BBT) were used to evaluate functional changes.

Outcomes And Results: Statistical analysis showed that improvements in functional postural control were significant on at least one balance measure for seven out of eight participants during the intervention phase. For all participants, a significant increase was observed in the BBT scores. Before-after intervention analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in PBS ( = -2.52,  ≤ 0.01), ABILHAND-Kids ( = -2.25,  ≤ 0.01), and ASK ( = -2.38,  ≤ 0.01).

Conclusions And Implications: This study provided early evidence of the effectiveness of the multi-component VR-based program in children with HCP. However, future studies with randomized controlled trial design are needed to evaluate the long-term effects and compare them with conventional rehabilitation practice.