Effectiveness of a Virtual Reality rehabilitation in stroke patients with sensory-motor and proprioception upper limb deficit: a study protocol

Stroke is the second leading cause of death in Europe. In the case of stroke survival (almost70%), only 25% of patients recover completely, while the remaining 75% will undergo arehabilitation phase that varying from months to years. The primary outcomes of a strokeinvolve motor impairment in the upper limbs, resulting in a partial or complete inability tomove the limb on the right or left side, depending on the affected hemisphere. Furthermore,the motor deficit distorts the proprioception of the body and the embodiment ability of theinjured limb. This could be rehabilitated through the paradigm of body illusion that modulatesthe motor rehabilitation. The present protocol aims to investigate the effectiveness of a Virtual Reality system for sensorimotor and proprioception upper limb deficit compared to a traditional upper limb rehabilitation program.