Short-Term Effects of Gamified Non-Immersive Exercises on Chronic Shoulder Pain and Arm Function in People With Stroke

What this Trial Is About

Rehabilitation after a stroke is crucial to help reduce lasting disabilities. Researchers are studying how gamified, non-immersive exercises may affect shoulder pain, upper limb movement, and muscle activity in people who have had a stroke and experience chronic shoulder pain. This observational study aims to better understand how these exercises could support pain management and arm function in stroke survivors. The study compares two types of exercises gamified non-immersive virtual reality exercises and video-based exercises. The gamified exercises include a 2-minute challenging game phase, while the video-based exercises involve replicating movements demonstrated in a 2-minute video with similar patterns. Both exercise types will be performed during the study sessions to observe their impact. Participants will undergo various assessments including measuring shoulder range of motion with motion capture technology, muscle activity with electromyography EMG, brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy fNIRS, and pain intensity with a visual analog scale VAS. Pain levels will be checked immediately before and after the exercises. Muscle activity and brain activity will be recorded during the interventions, which last about 20 minutes for brain activity and about 1.5 hours for muscle assessments. This detailed evaluation helps researchers understand how these exercises influence pain and arm function after stroke.

Short-term Effect of Using Non-immersive Gamified Exercises on Chronic Pain in People With Stroke.