Highlights
- •Telerehabilitation provides an opportunity to deliver remote rehabilitation services.
- •Virtual reality shows promising clinical outcomes in stroke rehabilitation.
- •Combining telerehabilitation with virtual reality is a feasible approach to promote functional recovery.
Abstract
Background
Telerehabilitation provides an essential opportunity to deliver continuous rehabilitation
services for stroke patients at home, especially amid a global pandemic. Virtual reality
is a simulation technology that has shown promising outcomes in stroke rehabilitation.
Combining telerehabilitation and virtual reality is an emerging and innovative approach
that enriches the rehabilitation experience and potentially enhances functional recovery
outcomes. This review synthesized current evidence of using virtual reality-based
telerehabilitation for patients after stroke and compared it with conventional in-person
rehabilitation.
Methods
Randomized controlled trials were searched across six databases published after 2000.
Two independent reviewers conducted study selection, data extraction and quality assessment.
The Physiotherapy Evidence Databases scale was used to evaluate the methodological
quality. Qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis were conducted to compare functional
outcomes after Virtual reality-based telerehabilitation with conventional in-person
rehabilitation.
Results
Nine studies including 260 participants were selected from 933 relevant records. Seven
studies met the criteria for good quality based on the Physiotherapy Evidence Databases
scale, two studies were fair quality. Compared with conventional in-person rehabilitation,
the meta-analysis indicated that virtual reality-based telerehabilitation had comparable
outcomes of upper extremity function and balance function. Both groups demonstrated
similar effects on outcomes in mobility, cognition, activities of daily life, and
quality of life.
Conclusions
Virtual reality-based telerehabilitation is an effective alternative approach for
patients with stroke, given the barriers and restrictions of traditional in-person
rehabilitation.
Key Words
Abbreviations:
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guideline), SMD (Standardized Mean Difference)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 29, 2022
Accepted:
December 21,
2022
Received in revised form:
December 18,
2022
Received:
November 9,
2022
Identification
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2022.106960
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
