According to a report in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, video games and virtual reality machines helped patients' arm strength after a stroke. The results come after analysis of seven observational and five randomized trials, representing a total of 195 patients, ages 26 to 88, who had suffered mild to moderate strokes.
"Virtual reality gaming is a promising and potentially useful alternative to enhance motor improvement after stroke," said Gustavo Saposnik, M.D., M.Sc., lead author of the study and director of the Stroke Outcomes Research Unit at St. Michael's Hospital at the University of Toronto. "Virtual reality gaming therapy may provide an affordable, enjoyable and effective alternative to intensify treatment and promote motor recovery after stroke."
For the observational studies, there was an average 14.7 percent improvement in motor strength after virtual reality sessions and a 20 percent average improvement in motor function. As for the randomized clinical trials, patients who played virtual reality games showed a statistically significant 4.89 times higher chance of improvement in motor strength compared to those who got standard therapy.
So why do video games help? Apparently they assist the brain in "rewiring" itself to perform motor functions thought to be lost.
"Recent research indicates the brain has a remarkable potential for remodelling because after injury it shows neuroplasticity, the ability to create new nerve cell connections. Those studies indicate that training designed to maximize the brain's remodelling potential should be challenging, repetitive, task-specific, motivating and novel. All of those are qualities of video-gaming, especially virtual reality systems in which players interact with a multisensory simulated environment via a wireless controller and receive real-time feedback on their performance," the report explained.
Treatment varied by study, though most patients played 20 to 30 hours during four to six weeks of therapy on one of several computer-based technology systems. These systems included three traditional video game systems (Glasstron, Irex, PlayStation Eye Toy) and nine virtual reality systems (Virtual Teacher, CyberGlove, VR Motion, PneuGlove, Wii).
