Strategies Adopted by Stroke Patients to Maintain Balance in Dynamic Tasks in a Video Game

Abstract

Postural instability affects motor tasks after a stroke. We investigated the strategies used to maintain balance during quiet standing posture and dynamic tasks in a video game. Sixteen stroke volunteers (12 males, 56 ± 9 years, post-stroke time 35 ± 10 months) and sixteen matched healthy volunteers had their biomechanical data collected to obtain the variables: center of mass, base of support, margin of stability, and weight symmetry. Healthy individuals and stroke patients showed similar dynamic stability. However, they adopted different motor strategies to achieve this: healthy individuals increased their base of support as they progressed to more challenging tasks, and stroke volunteers maintained the same base. The margin of stability of stroke volunteers was correlated with the MiniBEST scale.

Keywords:

• center of mass
• margin of stability
• stroke
• video games
• weight-bearing symmetry

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the volunteers who took part in the research; Marcos P.R. de Castro who programmed the videogame, to all members of the research group who collaborated in its development, to Isabela Maria Tesser for her collaboration in data collection, and Francielly Marques Moreira for her help with the figures.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES) under Grant [Finance Code 001 and PGPTA 59/2014].