Use of Interactive Gaming for Enhanced Function After Spinal Cord Injury

December 8, 2014 updated by: Beatrice Jenny Kiratli PhD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Use of Interactive Gaming After Spinal Cord Injury

The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether there are functional improvements in arm muscles and movments for spinal cord injured indviduals after performing video gaming.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Today, Nintendo's Wii has become integrated into our popular culture replete with its own vocabulary and marketed promise of achieving fitness through video gaming. Recently the term "Wii-habilitation" has gained popularity to represent application of interactive gaming into the therapeutic setting as a form of rehabilitation. However, this technology remains largely untested in the rehabilitation field despite seemingly widespread use.

Interactive gaming may indeed contribute to an important problem in rehabilitation, especially for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) who use manual wheelchairs for primary mobility and depend on their upper extremity for independence. Individuals with SCI will benefit tremendously by maximization of early rehabilitation post-injury and effective ongoing conditioning focused on the upper extremity through a continuum of care model that supports life-long health habits. Further, traditional exercise therapy targets components of function such as range of motion and strength, but often relies on isolated movements and repetitions which might not be the most effective method. Alternately, video interactive gaming can provide an engaging, variable, challenging, and fun activity-based approach that could enhance both adherence to exercise and functional outcomes.

A video gaming system can be readily implemented in a clinical setting and affordably deployed for home use with minimal instruction, is easy to use for continuation of therapy, and is well-suited to the SCI population for whom exercise options are limited. A wide variety of activities and games are available that utilize upper extremity movements "playing" real world sports such as golf, tennis, and bowling; multiple options for play are available which add variety and contribute to a comprehensive work-out. Players must grade whole upper limb forces to play the various games paralleling a traditional exercise regimen; visual and auditory feedback add interest and fun to the sessions. Interactive gaming allows for single and multiple player options and thus lends itself readily to promotion of social engagement. Real-life scenarios may contribute to self-motivation.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

21

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
        • VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Neurologic level of injury at or below cervical level 5 (C5) through C8 [tetraplegia] and at or below T1 through L3 [paraplegia]; persons with incomplete lesions at higher levels may be eligible, decided on a case by case basis depending on functional ability, Complete and incomplete injury allowed, Physical capability (ie, sufficient voluntary motor function) to participate in unassisted resistive exercise, determined as a minimum of grade 3 (by manual muscle testing) on elbow and wrist extension, Use of either a manual or power wheelchair as primary mobility, Absence of significant medical complications, Normal or nearly normal cognitive function (ie, minimal cognitive impairment may be allowed on a case by case basis), Willingness to participate for the duration of the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

Use of ambulation for mobility, Concurrently participating in any other exercise intervention or sports program, Medical condition that would interfere in gaming either short term or during extended play.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Video game play
Changes in upper limb; strength, active range of motion, electromyographic activity as well as heart rate response.
Other: Video gaming for enhanced function after spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injured indviduals will play Nintendo Wii sports games for an 8 week period.
Other Names:
  • Nintendo Wii Video gaming

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Increased Electromyographic actvity of upper the upper arm with video gaming.
Time Frame: Testing session 1 - at the start of the study ("week 0"). This is called the baseline testing session.
EMG will be measured at baseline testing for video game play and post testing after the videogaming is completed.
Testing session 1 - at the start of the study ("week 0"). This is called the baseline testing session.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Increased heart rate with Video gaming
Time Frame: Testing session 1 - at the start of the study ("week 0"). This is called the baseline testing session.
Baseline heart rate will be measured across all video games to see whcih elicit elevated hear rates consistent with appropriate exercise response.
Testing session 1 - at the start of the study ("week 0"). This is called the baseline testing session.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Beatrice J Kiratli, PhD, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 17, 2012

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 17, 2012

First Posted (Estimate)

February 23, 2012

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 10, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 8, 2014

Last Verified

December 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 18834

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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