Motor Improvement Using Motion Sensing Game Devices for Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation

ABSTRACT

The authors aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention based on interactive game set with the movement sensor Kinect on children with cerebral palsy (CP). Twenty-eight participants were recruited. Their age was between 3 and 12 years old, and rated as level I, II, or III on the Gross Motor Function Classification System. They played two games from the Xbox 360 Kinect system and were evaluated using the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) after a period of 8 weeks. The intervention led to significant motor function improvement as increase of the global scores on the GMFM (p < .001). Rehabilitation interventions using the Xbox 360 Kinect interactive games may represent useful tools for children with CP.

Keywords:

• cerebral palsy
• interactive games
• motor rehabilitation
• Xbox 360 Kinect

Acknowledgments

Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA) under project number CAAE 07282012.9.0000.5345 and on the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA) under project number CAAE 08853112.2.0000.5327. This study adhered to the ethical principles for health and medical research involving human subjects as stipulated by the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. All guardians were provided with adequate information regarding goals and procedures of the study, and were provided with a written consent to their children's participation in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by the Research Incentive Fund from Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (FIPE/HCPA).