NCT04592757

Immersive Care - Virtual Mirror Therapy

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 9 (actual)
• Sponsor: Thomas More University of Applied Sciences · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 85 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this implementation study is - primarily - to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, tolerability of a new virtual reality application in stroke patients, and -secondarily - to gain initial insights in the preliminary clinical effects of this application.

Detailed description

Although immersive technologies have great potential in healthcare, they are still relatively unknown and underutilized in this field. In this study a new virtual reality (VR) application will be implemented and tested in two groups of stroke patients (10 acute phase/10 chronic phase). In an attempt to reactivate the affected upper limb in stroke patients, therapists often use mirror therapy. Using a mirror, the movement of a paralyzed limb is feigned in order to reprogram the brain. A patient performs exercises with the healthy limb, but through the mirror the patient seems to use the affected limb. A high number of repetitions is essential to stimulate the so-called neuroplasticity of the brain, but this makes mirror therapy monotonous. In addition, the therapy also has its limitations. Activities are limited by the physical boundaries of the modality, with exercises largely limited to distal movements and simple functional activities. Larger, free-standing mirrors provide a wider range of motion for therapeutic activities, but offer less protection against environmental distraction. With VR, these obstacles can be overcome. By focusing on virtual mirror therapy using a VR headset, therapists hope to create a more pleasant and realistic experience for the patients.

Conditions

• Stroke

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Virtual mirror therapy via VR headset	Participants will perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in a virtual environment through a VR headset. The application is based on mirror therapy. Participants will execute certain arm movements with their non-affected arm, while seeing their affected arm perform said movement in the virtual environment.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-12-14
• Primary completion: 2021-05-28
• Completion: 2021-05-28
• First posted: 2020-10-19
• Last updated: 2021-06-02

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: Belgium