Shin 2013
| Methods | RCT | |
| Participants | Recruited from 2 rehabilitation units and the neurorehabilitation ward of a hospital in Korea 16 participants: 9 intervention, 7 control Inclusion criteria: hemiparetic upper limb dysfunction due to first‐ever stroke, mild‐to‐severe deficits of the paretic upper extremity (2 to 4 on the Medical Research Council Scale and 2 to 5 on the Brunnstrom Stage of motor recovery) Exclusion criteria: pre‐existing arm impairment, any painful condition affecting the upper limbs, difficulty in sitting for at least 20 minutes, severe cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination score less than 10 points) and severe aphasia Mean (SD) age: intervention group 46.6 (5.8), control group 52.0 (11.9) years 50% male Stroke details: 38% right lesion Timing post stroke: intervention group mean (SD) 76.6 (28.5) days, control group 67.1 (45.3) days |
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| Interventions | Virtual reality intervention: RehabMaster™. The participant sits in a chair in front of a monitor. The therapist can control the program and level of difficulty. Rehabilitation games were designed to combine rehabilitation exercises with gaming elements. The four games suggested were goalkeeper, bug hunter, underwater fire and rollercoaster Control intervention: conventional occupational therapy Sessions were 20 minutes of occupational therapy. The intervention group received an additional 20 minutes of virtual reality. The duration of intervention was 10 sessions over 2 weeks |
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| Outcomes | Outcomes recorded at baseline and post intervention Upper limb function outcomes: Fugl Meyer Activity limitation outcomes; Modified Barthel Index Other outcomes: passive range of motion of the upper limb, Medical Research Council Score |
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| Notes | — | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | Computer‐generated |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Low risk | Opaque envelopes |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Blinded to allocation |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | No drop outs |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | All outcomes reported except for the SF36 measure, which will be reported in a subsequent publication |