Effects of Wii-fit balance board exercise on the posture of stroke patients

Abstract

We studied the effects of the balancing exercise with visual feedback to the correction of posture in stroke patients. We included eight stroke patients into a 30-minute daily, two-week long clinical study where Wii-Fit balance board was the instrument to provide visual feedback. We assessed the posture before and after the treatment by four clinical tests: Berg balance test, Barthel index, Timed up & go and Functional reach test. We also analyzed the ground reaction pressures (GRP). We measured the GRP by using insoles comprising five MEMS sensors each. We developed a program that created maps showing ground pressure distribution. The program uses cubic spline interpolation of data. The maps of left and right sole were compared to assess the symmetry, and the maps before and after the treatment were used to examine the effects of the exercise. The clinical test scores suggest improved standing after the treatment compared with before the treatment. The maps of ground reaction pressure also show improvement, but more critical provide information for correcting the posture.