Mechanism of Action That Underlies an Active Balance and Cardio Care Intervention on Physical and Cardiovascular Health in People With Chronic Stroke

Summary

Neurological impairment such as stroke is a leading cause of adult disability. Traditional rehabilitative therapies can help regain motor function and ameliorate disability. There are increasing community and other facilities offering rehabilitation in the form of conventional, recreational and alternative therapy. However, the implementation of these conventional therapy techniques in individuals with a neurological disorder like stroke is tedious, resource-intensive, and costly, often requiring transportation of patients to specialized facilities. Based on recent evidence suggesting significant benefits of repetitive, task-orientated training, investigators propose to evaluate the feasibility of an alternative therapies such as exergaming-based therapy to improve overall physical function of community-dwelling individuals with neurological impairments, compared to conventional therapeutic rehabilitation. This pilot study aims to systematically obtain data on compliance and efficacy of a randomized controlled trial. The objective of the study is to determine the safety, feasibility, compliance and efficacy of exergaming therapy to improve overall physical function of community-dwelling chronic stroke individuals.

Description

Eligibility

Age range

45–90 years

Sex

All

Healthy volunteers

No

Interventions

• Behavioral
  Virtual reality based dance group

  Participants will receive therapy using the "Just Dance" using the commercially available Kinect gaming system (Microsoft Inc, Redmond, WA, USA. Each song involves repetitive action for each dance step (at least 20 repetitions over the entire song) and visual cues on the screen (a stick figure at the bottom right) indicating the upcoming dance step. Participant's playing the game to reduce risk of exercise related adverse effects. Participants will dance on 10 songs starting from a slow-pace progressing to a medium pace (each max 5 minutes long). Participants will receive 5 minutes rest after playing on each song. This will be conducted by two physical therapists.

• Behavioral
  Active Comparator: Control

  Participants in the control group will receive current standard of care: education on conventional exercise and fall prevention programs. The control and intervention groups will have the same duration of 10 weeks (1session/week), while the format of the contact (Tele) and session time of the contact will be proportional to the content delivered (30-45 minutes/session) in the control group; 80-90 minutes in the intervention group). Participants, regardless of randomization, will complete assessments and follow-ups with blinded outcome assessors.

Location