Effect of Virtual Reality for Balance Training in Stroke Patients

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Stroke is the condition which drastically affects the livelihood of an individual. Virtual reality (VR) can be of assistance in integrating multisensory stimulation of the visual and auditory system to create a realistic environment for motivational training and goal-oriented activities. VR offers patients with enhanced goal-oriented workouts and motivational training that improves patient program adherence since it includes multimodal stimulation of the visual, auditory, tactile, and somatosensory senses to create a realistic world. This study objective is to find the effectiveness of Virtual Reality Therapy and conventional exercise on balance in patients with stroke mainly affecting lower limb. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study 20 Stroke patients aged 60-80 years, selected using convenient sampling were randomly assigned to two groups: Experimental group and conventional group (each n =10). Evaluations included the Functional balance grades and Timed up and go test. The Experimental group performed Virtual Reality balance games, while the conventional group engaged in conventional exercises. Both groups took therapy for 40 minutes, four days a week for 3 weeks. RESULT: Statistical analysis revealed a significant difference within the groups with significance of p<0.001. The experimental group showed greater improvement in both the outcomes than the conventional group with p-value less than 0.001. CONCLUSION: From the results obtained we conclude that both groups showed a significant improvement, but the experimental group showed greater improvement than the conventional group hence VR therapy is more effective for balance training in Stroke patients. Keywords: Virtual Reality Therapy, conventional therapy, sub-acute stroke, Balance Training.