Abstract
Objective
To assess the effects on functional outcomes and treatment adherence of wearable technology
and serious games (ie, interactive computer applications with specific purposes useful
in the “real world”) currently used in physical rehabilitation of patients after traumatic
bone and soft tissue injuries.
Data Sources
PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Current Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature
were searched without publication date restrictions for the terms wearable, serious game, videogame or mobile application, and rehabilitation, exercise therapy, and physiotherapy.
Study Selection
The search yielded 2704 eligible articles, which were screened by 2 independent reviewers.
Studies comparing serious games to standard therapy were included.
Data Extraction
Methodology and results of the studies were critically appraised in conformity with
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.
Data Synthesis
Twelve articles were included, all of which tested “off-the-shelf” games. No studies
on “wearable-controlled” games or games specifically developed for rehabilitation
could be included. Medical conditions included postoperative rehabilitation and acute
traumatic injuries. All studies were of low to moderate quality. Only 2 studies found
beneficial effects of serious games compared to conventional therapy. One of 3 studies
reporting pain scores found beneficial effects of serious games compared to physiotherapy.
One of 5 trials reporting treatment adherence found a statistically significant advantage
in the game group compared to conventional physiotherapy. Because of heterogeneity
in study design and outcome measures, pooling of data was not possible.
Conclusions
Serious games seem a safe alternative or addition to conventional physiotherapy after
traumatic bone and soft tissue injuries. Future research should determine their validity
and effectiveness in rehabilitation therapy, next to their cost-effectiveness and
effect on treatment adherence.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 11, 2017
Footnotes
Supported by the Growing Games consortium (Dutch Game Garden, iMMovator, Dutch Games Association and Economic Board Utrecht; grant no. CB_WP200018) and the CZ (Centraal Ziekenfonds) Fund.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
