The effectiveness of virtual reality therapy in relieving upper limb hemiparesis after stroke:A meta-analysis of randomized and controlled trials / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the clinical efficacy of using virtual reality ( VR) to improve the upper limb function of hemiplegic persons. Methods A search was conducted in the PubMed, Cochrane Library, EM-BASE, CNKI and Wanfang Data as well as VIP for reports of randomized and controlled studies of using VR in train-ing upper limb function after stroke. A meta-analysis was then performed using version 5. 3 of the Review Manager software. Results Ninety studies involving 879 patients were found and analyzed. The data showed that VR was sig-nificantly more effective than conventional training in improving Fugl-Meyer assessment scores. It was not superior, however, in improving average Functional Independence Measure scores or performance in the box and blocks test. Conclusion VR is superior to conventional training in promoting the recovery of upper limb function after a stroke.