Abstract
Objective
To determine the clinical effectiveness of adding virtual reality via the Nintendo Wii console and its Wii Balance Board to physiotherapy treatment in patients with total hip arthroplasty.
Design
Randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Clinical Hospital San Borja Arriaran, Santiago, Chile.
Participants
A total of 73 patients over 50 years of age with total hip arthroplasty were randomly allocated to two groups.
Interventions
The control group (n = 37) received 6 weeks of physiotherapy treatment; the intervention group (n = 36) received the same treatment plus virtual reality exercises with the Nintendo Wii console.
Outcome measures
The two groups were assessed at baseline and after the 6 weeks of treatment. The primary outcome assessed was the function with the WOMAC questionnaire. The secondary outcomes were the Berg Balance Scale, distance covered with the six-minute walk test, and difference in weight load on the lower extremities.
Results
A total of 73 patients, 37 patients in the control group (20 women; mean age of 70.9 ± 9.16 years) and 36 patients in the intervention group (18 women; mean age of 70.39 ± 9.02 years) were analyzed. At the end of the treatment, the difference between groups for the total WOMAC score was −10.4 points (p = 0.00), 4.7 points (p = 0.00) for the Berg Balance Scale, and 45.2 mt (p = 0.00) for the six-minute walk test All differences were in favor of the intervention group.
Conclusions
In the short term, the addition of virtual reality via the Nintendo Wii and its Wii Balance Board platform showed statistically significant differences in the function of patients with total hip replacement, but these differences were not minimally clinically important.
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References
Supplementary Material
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