Spanish researchers have investigated the usefulness of virtual reality in the remote rehabilitation of 12 walking children aged between 5 and 15 suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) or Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD).
Although they had already undergone a conventional rehabilitation programme, the results of new training via a virtual platform twice a week (30 minutes per session) for five weeks showed :
- an average increase of almost 20 metres in the six-minute walking test ;
- stabilisation of other measures (NSAA, Vignos scale, TUG) of motor function;
- habituation to exercise, with a lower perception of fatigue from the third session onwards, despite the gradual increase in intensity in subsequent sessions.
These tools can also be adapted to the needs of neuromuscular patients. For example, the American company Delsys & Altec has developed ‘Planet Pulse’, a new exercise game based on a fictitious planetary space with which players can interact according to their inhalation and exhalation volumes, thus visually training their respiratory muscles.
This virtual environment was successfully tested on three non-walking DMD patients, who reported an improvement in their respiratory capacity.
These two studies support the relevance of virtual platforms in the remote rehabilitation, alone or accompanied, of patients with neuromuscular diseases, particularly the youngest and most isolated.
