Wii-habilitation of Upper Extremity Function in Children with Cerebral Palsy, an explorative study

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disabilities in
children in Western countries. Impaired upper extremity function is the main
problem for half of the children diagnosed with CP. Although it is recognized
that it is important to integrate play and leisure in therapy in order to
achieve benefits, children often find conventional therapy boring and
repetitive. Recent technologies such as Robotica, Virtual reality and gaming
seem to meet these requirements. These technologies may also provide safety,
adaptability, task specificity, real time performances feedback and independent
training for rehabilitation.

The primary objective of this explorative study is to evaluate the training
effect on the upper extremity function of the (most) affected arm in unilateral
activity, in children with unilateral and bilateral spastic Cerebral Palsy
using the WiiTM computer, which is a Virtual Reality intervention.
The secondary objective is to evaluate the training effect on execution of
bilateral activity in daily life as perceived by the caregivers. Another
secondary objective is to evaluate the user satisfaction and usability of WiiTM
computer training for the user and the health professional.

This explorative intervention study consists of one pre- and one post training
measurements of functional aspects of upper extremity movements.

The children will attend 30 minute training sessions of VR exercise games
training on the Wii-computer 2 times a week for 6 Weeks.

It is expected that this study will benefit children with CP in de future. We
also anticipate a positive outcome on upper extremity function on the
participating children. Because current therapies for improving upper extremity
function will be stopped during the study the extra burden for the children is
limited to the measurements and inclusion procedure (2 hours in total). 6 Hours
will be spent on the actual exercises. There are no risks involved in
participating in the inclusion procedure and measurements.
The vast majority of injuries reported in literature due to playing on a
Wii-computer are accidental or due to overuse. They are preventable by the
controlled environment, supervision of a physiotherapist and the limited time
spend on a Wii-computer. There is no extra risk in participating in this study.