Efficacy of Virtual Reality-Based Therapy on Balance in Children with Down Syndrome

Virtual reality-based therapy is one of the most innovative and promising recent developments in rehabilitation technology. Virtual reality is the use of interactive simulations created with computer hardware and software to present users with opportunities to engage in environments that appear to be and feel similar to real world objects and events. Wii-Fit is considered as one of the virtual reality-based therapy. Children with Down syndrome have lower scores on balance and agility tasks than do children with other mental impairments. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of Wii-Fit on balance in children with Down syndrome. Balance was measured by Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency for 30 children with Down syndrome. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups of equal size (control and study). They ranged in age from 10 to 13 years old and they were selected from both genders. The control group received the traditional physical therapy program. A program of three Wii-Fit games was conducted for the study group in addition to the traditional physical therapy program. The program for both groups continued for six weeks. The results revealed high significant improvement of balance in the study group (p= 0.000) when compared with that of the control group indicating that Wii-Fit games as a virtual reality-based therapy could improve balance for children with Down syndrome.

[1]  J. Muñoz,et al.  The American Occupational Therapy Association , 1944 .

[2]  Woodrow Barfield,et al.  A Review of Presence and Performance in Virtual Environments , 2000, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[3]  Eugénie Shinkle.  Video games, emotion and the six senses , 2008 .

[4]  B. Connolly,et al.  Performance of retarded children, with and without Down syndrome, on the Bruininks Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. , 1986, Physical therapy.

[5]  Noomi Katz,et al.  Video capture virtual reality as a flexible and effective rehabilitation tool , 2004, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

[6]  D. Blanc,et al.  Static and Dynamic Balance Skills of Trainable Children with Down's Syndrome , 1977, Perceptual and motor skills.

[7]  M. Woollacott,et al.  Dynamics of postural control in the child with Down syndrome. , 1985, Physical therapy.

[8]  C. Trombly,et al.  Occupation: purposefulness and meaningfulness as therapeutic mechanisms. 1995 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture. , 1995, The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy Association.

[9]  G. Laveck,et al.  Sex differences in development among young children with Down syndrome. , 1977, The Journal of pediatrics.

[10]  S. McDonough,et al.  Virtual reality in stroke rehabilitation: Still more virtual than real , 2007, Disability and rehabilitation.

[11]  Shawn Marshall,et al.  Experimental Studies of Virtual Reality-Delivered Compared to Conventional Exercise Programs for Rehabilitation , 2003, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[12]  M. Woollacott,et al.  Effect of balance training on recovery of stability in children with cerebral palsy. , 2003, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[13]  Patrice L Tamar Weiss,et al.  Video-capture virtual reality system for patients with paraplegic spinal cord injury. , 2005, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[14]  Noomi Katz,et al.  Cognition & occupation across the life span : models for intervention in occupational therapy , 2005 .

[15]  J. Depaepe,et al.  A Dynamic Balance Measure for Persons with Severe and Profound Mental Retardation , 1993, Perceptual and motor skills.

[16]  Heidi Sveistrup,et al.  The Effect of Two Types of Virtual Reality on Voluntary Center of Pressure Displacement , 2003, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[17]  T. Rowland,et al.  Energy expenditure in adolescents playing new generation computer games , 2009 .

[18]  M E Gormley,et al.  Treatment of neuromuscular and musculoskeletal problems in cerebral palsy. , 2001, Pediatric rehabilitation.

[19]  D Cunningham,et al.  Virtual reality: a wholistic approach to rehabilitation. , 1999, Studies in health technology and informatics.

[20]  G. Stratton,et al.  The contribution of upper limb and total body movement to adolescents’ energy expenditure whilst playing Nintendo Wii , 2008, European Journal of Applied Physiology.

[21]  Frits H. Post,et al.  Using the Wii Balance Board#8482; as a low-cost VR interaction device , 2008, VRST '08.

[22]  James A Levine,et al.  Activity-promoting video games and increased energy expenditure. , 2009, The Journal of pediatrics.

[23]  Chul-Gyu Song,et al.  A new postural balance control system for rehabilitation training based on virtual cycling. , 2004, IEEE transactions on information technology in biomedicine : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[24]  P L Weiss,et al.  Virtual reality applications to work. , 1998, Work.

[25]  P. Grimaud.  [Cerebral palsy]. , 1972, Pediatrie.

[26]  Heidi Sveistrup,et al.  Feasibility, Motivation, and Selective Motor Control: Virtual Reality Compared to Conventional Home Exercise in Children with Cerebral Palsy , 2006, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..