Video games that get players moving, at least in some small fashion, can not only have positive health effects -- they might even have a place in stroke rehabilitation centers, helping some patients regain upper body strength and coordination after suffering a stroke.
That seems to be the consensus from an analysis by Canadian researchers of 12 studies involving 195 stroke patients who tried their hands at virtual-reality games as part of rehabilitation. And the games might even offer an edge. In the five studies that compared video gaming to more traditional therapies, the video-gaming patients were more likely to improve their arm strength than were those who relied on traditional therapies.
A variety of virtual-reality gaming systems now exist, used by children and adults to practice their skills at virtual bowling, boxing and the like. The studies in the latest analysis used both household consoles and gaming consoles customized for rehabilitation, tracking players' movements while they wore gloves or held a remote.
The results, released Thursday, are published in the May issue of Stroke.
Strokes happen when a blood vessel to the brain is blocked or bursts.
If blood is stopped for more than a few seconds, brain cells are starved of oxygen and die. When brain cells die in a part of the brain that controls movement, the stroke victim may have trouble with everyday tasks such as drinking a glass of water or opening a doorknob.