Investigating the Effect of Nintendo Wii Games on Clinical and Neural Properties of Ankle Spasticity in Patients with Stroke: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Stroke is one of the most common causes of disability. Spasticity is a common clinical impairment that occurs after a stroke. Spasticity occurs due to changes in the mechanical properties of the muscle and the neural properties following a stroke. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of Nintendo Wii games on ankle spasticity outcomes in stroke patients. Methods: In this parallel single-blind clinical trial study, 30 patients with stroke were randomly assigned to one of the experimental and control groups. The subjects of both groups received conventional physiotherapy, including stretching of ankle plantar flexor muscles and walking exercises on parallel bars. In addition, the experimental group also received Nintendo Wii games for 30 minutes three times a week for a total of 12 sessions. Clinical outcomes of spasticity and neural properties were evaluated using the Modified Modified Ashworth Scale and H-reflex latency and Hmax/Mmax ratio. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20. Results: The intragroup results showed that the clinical outcome of spasticity was significantly reduced in the experimental group (P = 0.001). The comparison between the two groups showed no statistically significant difference in clinical outcome and neural properties between the experimental and control groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the results, the clinical outcome of spasticity was significantly reduced after the end of the treatment in the Nintendo Wii group. The use of Nintendo Wii can be suggested as a treatment modality alongside the usual treatments to achieve greater and faster effectiveness in patients with stroke.