DEVELOPMENT AND CLINICAL FEASIBILITY OF A NOVEL VIRTUAL REALITY INTERVENTION "SYNAPSE VR" IN HAND MOTOR REHABILITATION AMONG HEMIPARETICS: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED PILOT STUDY

Background: Virtual reality (VR) accelerates post-stroke recovery by engaging patients in interactive environments. SYNAPSE VR is an innovative virtual reality application containing a head-mounted display and 12 game activities designed to improve upper limb motor function and neuroplasticity in hemiparetic stroke patients.
Methods: A randomized, parallel group, active-controlled trial was conducted on 10 acute to sub-acute hemiparetic stroke patients (aged 45-60 years). Participants were randomly assigned to a group: Group A (experimental), Group B (Control), 5 in each group. Group A and B were provided immersive VR gaming intervention and conventional hand functional activities respectively along with their regular upper limb physiotherapy. Both groups received 4 therapy sessions per week for 6 weeks. Fugl-Meyer assessment for Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) and Box and Block test (BBT) were evaluated at baseline, post-test (7th week) and at 12-weeks follow up.
Results: The VR intervention was feasible, with 100% adherence and no adverse events. Both groups showed significant improvement within the group in FMA-UE (p=0.018) and BBT (p=0.007) scores over 12 weeks. Although the difference between groups lacked statistical significance, there was an absolute mean improvement of 22.00 blocks on the BBT (versus 11.20 in controls) in Group A, exceeding the Minimal Clinically Important Difference (MCID) of 6 blocks, indicating high clinical motor gains.
Conclusion: SYNAPSE VR provides immersive and engaging motor training environment by simulating real-life tasks with the advantage of customizability and interactive scenarios. This mode of treatment is expected to maximize motor function recovery in hemiparetic stroke patients.