Efficacy of Virtual Reality Rehabilitation after Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review

Table 4

Synthesis of the VR short-term effects by domain (motor function, aerobic function, pain, balance, or psychologic aspects) of statistically significant or nonsignificant results of individual studies (n = 25).

Studies	Statistically significant results ()					Statistically nonsignificant results
	Motor function	Aerobic function	Pain	Balance	Psychologic aspects	Motor function	Aerobic function	Pain	Balance	Psychologic aspects
Villiger et al. [14]	✓		✓	✓
Carlozzi et al. [15]	✓
Dimbwadyo-Terrer et al. [10]						✓
Dimbwadyo-Terrer et al. [27]						✓
Fizzotti et al. [30]	✓
Gaffurini et al. [21]		✓
Gil-Agudo et al. [28]	✓								✓
Jordan et al. [18]			✓
O’connor et al. [26]		✓
Roosink et al. [17]	✓							✓
Sayenko et al. [19]				✓
Villiger et al. [31]	✓			✓
Wall et al. [13]	✓			✓
Hasnan et al. [22]		✓
D’Addio et al. [20]				✓
Sung et al. [29]	✓
Dimbwadyo-Terrer et al. [16]	✓					✓			✓
Kowalczewski et al. [39]	✓
Chen et al. [7]					✓
An and Park [32]	✓			✓					✓
Khurana et al. [33]	✓					✓
Pozeg et al. [34]			✓^#		✓			✓
Prasad et al. [35]	✓
van Dijsseldonk et al. [36]	✓^##			✓		✓
Villiger et al. [37]	✓^###			✓	✓	✓

Note. The study had statistically significant results only in one functional aspect measured. Overall limits of stability significantly improved, but directional forward and backward limits of stability did not differ significantly after therapy. Modified Functional Reach Test (mFRT) and self-care components of the Spinal Cord Independence Measure III (SCIM III) significantly improved, but t-shirt test did not differ significantly after therapy. ^#Significant pain reduction when the lower back was stimulated synchronously with the virtual legs but no significant reductions for other conditions. ^##Significant effects on 4 out of 9 spatiotemporal and stability measures of gait. ^###Significant improvements on LEMS, BBS, and TUG, but no significant changes on 6minWT, SCIM III, and WISC-III.