La réalité virtuelle et l'imagerie motrice dans le contrôle moteur des amuptés du membre supérieur: une révue de la littérature

Abstract

Introduction: Motor imagery (MI) and virtual reality (VR) are used in the upper limb amputee’s (ULA) rehabilitation. ULAs using  an advanced technical prosthesis are more and more numerous. Our aim was to better understand the motor working of ULAs, wearing prosthesis and using MI and VR. Method: A systematic research using Pubmed, Cochrane, ProQuest, Web of Science, CINAHL, and PSYCHINFO was conducted to analyse the consequences of such therapies on myoelectric and cerebral activities, motor performance and subjective data related to movement. Inclusion criteria for articles were: motor control of ULAs practicing MI or VR was investigated. Exclusion criteria were: only healthy subjects were tested or other therapies  except MI and VR were practiced. Results: Initial search provided 2,635 articles, in which 10 have been included in the analysis. ULAs and healthy subjects do not have the same neurological way of working when practicing MI or VR. The number of possible controlled movements and their accuracy are different. Some aspects, such as visual content of VR systems, may have an influence. If such therapies are interesting to be used for some ULAs, they have to be used as a supplement, but not as a substitute for classical therapies. Discussion: Supplemental search such as RCTs have to be conducted to provide strong evidences, that MI or VR are appropriate to be used for ULAs rehabilitation. MI and VR procedures have to be defined more clearly. These techniques must absolutely be tested with ULAs.