Virtual reality technology for rehabilitation of cerebral palsy: A literature review

Abstract

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive encephalopathy that causes changes in muscle tone, posture and movement. The importance of early rehabilitation intervention is widely recognized, and new treatment tools such as computational technologies have been added for rehabilitation. The use of computational virtual reality games raises the possibility to control the training intensity as well as to observe the progress and direct monitoring control over patients' activities. Additionally, some studies have shown the effectiveness of these systems in improving the management of tasks for patients with various levels of encephalopathy. Based on the assumptions above, the objective of this review was to discuss the literature on the use of such technologies in the rehabilitation of CP patients. The potential use of VR in rehabilitation of CP patients is clear. There is, however, a reduced number of randomized trials to sustain whether these methods may effectively act as a complement for physical and/or neuro-cognitive rehabilitation or work as a replacement for the traditional rehabilitation methods.