Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of augmented reality occupational therapy (AR-OT) in recovery of post-stroke patients in comparision with conventional occupational therapy (C-OT)
Design: Randomized controlled trial in a rehabilitation institute tertiary referral hospital
Participant: First-ever subacute stroke patients (within 6 month) with unilateral upper limb weakness (Brunnstrom stage 2~6)
Interventions: The experimental treatment was based on AR-OT, whereas control treatment was based on same amount of C-OT. Both treatments were performed for 1 hour/day, 5days/week during 2weeks.
Main outcome measure: Fugl-Meyer upper extremity scale(F-M)(primary outcome), box and block test, modified barthel index(MBI), hand strength, berg balance test, motor activity log(MAL), EQ-5D-3L, NASS, Hand response.
Statistics: Mann-Whitney U test were used to determine significant difference of continuous variables between two groups. Chi-square test were used to determine significant difference of categorical variables between two groups. Wilcoxon test was used for comparison within each group. All statistical analysis were performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics, version 24.0(Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). The statistical significance level was set at p-value<0.05.
Results: We prospectively enrolled 17 subacute stroke patients. The baseline characteristics were not different between groups except frequency of DM. After 2 weeks of treatment, there was no significant difference between two groups (AR-OT group versus C-OT group). However, in group comparision, AR-OT group show statistically significant improvement in F-M score, hand strength, EQ-5D-3L after treatment which is not significant in C-OT group.
Conclusion: In our study, AR-OT showed comparable effect to C-OT. In AR-OT, upper limb motor recovery and quality of life showed significant improvement which was not shown in C-OT. Considering the motivation of patients, less burden of therapist, and effective performance as home-based or group-therapy, AR-OT might be promising therapy for upper limb rehabilitation.
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