The Effect of Virtual Reality-based on Intervention in Stroke Patients: Systematic Review

In the elderly, the most common cause of disability is stroke. The current development of digital technology has brought advancements in stroke therapy exercises. Nowadays, many researchers and healthcare professionals are starting to use Virtual Reality (VR) as a new technology to implement innovative therapy exercises in training stroke patients. This review evaluates the effectiveness of using VR in the therapy process to enhance the motoric abilities of stroke patients. This review was conducted on research articles published between 2010 and 2023, meeting the inclusion criteria from PubMed, Scopus, IEEE, and Science Direct. Stroke patients showed significant improvements across various cognitive domains. 20 studies were found to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The selected studies examined the impact of VR on the stroke therapy process or compared VR therapy with conventional therapy. The results show that VR has the potential to help stroke patients when undergoing rehabilitation, where patients experience significant improvements in various domains of motor function. VR therapy with its methodology is effective in improving upper/lower extremity movement, quality of life, postural balance, and reducing stress and depression levels in stroke patients. VR can be implemented both as a standalone therapy or as an addition to conventional therapy methods.