Is virtual reality beneficial for dual-task gait training in patients with Parkinson's disease? A systematic review

• Published in: Dementia & neuropsychologia Vol. 13; no. 3; pp. 259 - 267
• Main Authors: Freitag, Fernanda, Brucki, Sonia Maria Dozzi, Barbosa, Alessandra Ferreira, Chen, Janini, Souza, Carolina de Oliveira, Valente, Débora Francato, Chien, Hsin Fen, Bedeschi, Cynthia, Voos, Mariana Callil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Associação de Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento 01-09-2019; Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento; Associação Neurologia Cognitiva e do Comportamento
• Subjects: CLINICAL NEUROLOGY; cognition; gait; GERIATRICS & GERONTOLOGY; HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES; MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL; NURSING; Original; Parkinson's disease; PSYCHIATRY; PSYCHOLOGY; videogames; virtual reality; virtual reality; Parkinson's disease; cognition; gait; videogames; cognição; marcha; doença de Parkinson; realidade virtual
• ISSN: 1980-5764; 1980-5764
• DOI: 10.1590/1980-57642018dn13-030002

This systematic review examined the evidence about the effects of virtual reality (VR) on dual-task gait training in Parkinson's disease (PD).
this study (PROSPERO registration CRD42019114736) aimed to answer the question: "Is VR beneficial for dual-task gait training in patients with PD?" We searched for studies from 2008 to 2018 on Medline/PubMed and Web of Science/Web of knowledge databases. The keywords were Parkinson AND gait training AND virtual reality OR Parkinson AND gait training AND game. A total of 55 articles were retrieved, of which 11 systematic reviews, 11 opinions, letters to the editor, posters or conferences abstracts and 17 studies not evaluating the effects of VR gait training were excluded. Three further studies addressing VR dual-task gait training in PD (found in references of studies selected) were also included. Therefore, 19 studies were included and analysed.
all studies reported gait improvement after VR training. Many clinical scales were used, hampering comparison of the effects of each protocol.
VR dual-task gait training should be part of rehabilitation protocols for PD. The studies showed that VR training was effective, although specific guidelines have not yet been established.