IMPACT OF REHABILITATION TECHNOLOGIES USING VIRTUAL REALITY UPON QUALITY OF LIFE IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY

Background. Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the leading diseases causing disability in childhood. It is necessary to improve existing medical technologies and introduce new modern ways of treating children with CP which can improve their life quality. Objective of the study. To explore the impact of virtual reality (VR) technologies within the frames of complex medical rehabilitation upon life quality of patients with CP. Material and methods. The study was observational, retrospective-prospective, cohort, and comparative in nature. It included 58 pediatric patients with levels II-III spastic forms of CP according to MACS. Rehabilitation in combination with virtual reality technologies was carried out for 30 patients, 28 patients received medical rehabilitation without using VR. Life quality (PedsQL-4.0) was evaluated 2 months after the rehabilitation course. Results. Medical rehabilitation with the methods of everyday use of virtual reality technologies directed at improving manipulative hand function in children with cerebral palsy significantly increases life quality (PedsQL-4.0) for blocks of physical function and physical activity (pKruscal–Wallis<0.001), emotional function (pKruscal–Wallis<0.001), social function (pKruscal–Wallis<0.001) as well as role functioning in learning (pKruscal–Wallis<0.001) in comparison to children who received rehabilitation without using these technologies which can be the reason for including virtual reality methods into the process of rehabilitation treatment of patients with CP.