HU Professor Uses Video Games for Physical Therapy

 Dr. Sung You, assistant professor at Hampton University's Department of Pharmacy.

Hampton, VA - Dr. Sung You, assistant professor at Hampton University's Department of Physical Therapy, is using video games to make physical therapy fun. After months of therapy, You found that patients became bored with their regular day-to-day therapy exercises, leading to the development of negative attitudes toward therapy that hindered progress. Video games appear to offer a solution by livening up the exercises and creating an exciting environment for the stroke patient.

In May, which is National Stroke Awareness Month, You submitted his paper, "Virtual Reality – Induced Cortical Reorganization and Associated Locomotor Recovery in Chronic Stroke: An Experimenter – Blind Randomized Study," for publication in "Stroke: Journal of the American Stroke Association." You's paper examines video games as alternate physical therapy exercises for stroke victims.

"The virtual reality is an interactive exercise program with a camera that captures movements of the participants and allows the patient to be emerged into the 3-D video game," said You. The games include snow boarding, shark bate, step up/step down and soccer. The patient is positioned in front of a green screen and their image is placed into the video game. He or she is now one of the players in the game and must use their own body to move around and play. The patient uses the same muscles that they would use in traditional exercises in the video game.

"Virtual reality is enjoyable for the patient," said You. "It is not perceived as exercise or therapy, yet you are exercising and having fun. Virtual reality eliminates the mental block of doing routine exercise."

You conducted a study using 10 individuals who suffered from a stroke. The subjects varied in age and gender but all had brain lesions caused by a stroke. The group was split into two groups, a control group and an experimental group. He conducted tests to determine the individuals' walking ability and brain recovery before and after the experiment. He found improvement in the part of the brain that was affected by the stroke. "After four weeks of virtual reality training, there were significant adaptive changes in the brain activation pattern," said You. "This resulted in improvement of the walking ability in stroke patients."

You hopes that his study will result in further testing using larger sample sizes and augment the conventional stroke rehabilitation. "I believe that the virtual reality is a new and promising technology," said You. "It's very powerful, motivating and naturalistic technology that benefits stroke patients."

The American Heart Association contacted You and filmed a video news release on his fascinating study. They released the video to television stations nationwide in recognition of Stroke Month in May.

For more information, please contact Dr. Sung You, assistant professor in the School of Physical Therapy at (757) 727-5260 or e-mail sung.you@hamptonu.edu.