Effects of EMG-controlled video games on the upper limb functionality in patients with multiple sclerosis: a feasibility study and development description

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common inflammatory neurological disease in young adults, with a high prevalence worldwide (2.8 million people). To aid in the MS treatment, using VR tools in cognitive and motor rehabilitation of such disease has been growing progressively in the last years. However, the role of VR as a rehabilitative tool in MS treatment is still under debate. This paper explores the effects of VR training using EMG activation in upper limb functionality. An experimental training protocol using video games controlled using an MYO armband sensor was conducted in a sample of patients with MS. Results support the use of EMG-commanded video games as a rehabilitative tool in patients with MS, obtaining favorable outcomes related to upper limb functionality and satisfaction.The authors would like to thank all the participants who collaborated in this study, as well as the staff of Association ALEM (Leganés, Spain). Also, the authors would like to thank Hugo Alonso Cámara for his collaboration and technical support. The research leading to these results received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness as part of the project "ROBOASSET: Intelligent Robotic Systems for Assessment and Rehabilitation in Upper Limb Therapies" (PID2020-113508RB-I00), funded by AEI/10.13039/501100011033; from the Robocity2030-III-CM Project (S2013/MIT-2748) which is supported in part by Programas de Actividades I+D en la Comunidad de Madrid and in part by Structural Funds of the EU; and also from Spanish research project Discover2Walk "Sistema Robótico para Propiciar la Marcha en Niños Pequeños con Parálisis Cerebral" under Grant PID2019-105110RB-C32/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. This paper was part of the R&D and the authors' project PLEC2021-007819 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR