Virtual reality in gait rehabilitation in children with spastic cerebral palsy

Abstract

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is one of the newest and most used methods in rehabilitation processes, reporting favorable effects. Materials and methods: To know the effects of VR, in the processes of gait rehabilitation in children with cerebral palsy (CP), research in publications of the past 10 years was carried out, in databases of the area of health, science, and technology: ScienceDirect, Nature, Oxford Journals, Sage Publishing, Sage Knowledge, Springer Link Magazines, Taylor and Francis Journals, EBSCO Host, Health and Wellness, ProQuest, PEDro PubMed, and Cochrane Library. The established search criteria were articles with longitudinal designs, controlled clinical trials, case studies, and systematic reviews with/without meta-analysis, which used VR as an intervention in gait rehabilitation in children with CP. Results: A total of 250 articles were found that prove the effectiveness of VR in children with CP. Conclusions: VR can be a complementary strategy for gait rehabilitation in this population.