Standing and playing: Might make a difference

Standing while playing, some recent research shows, your recovery might be better.

I ran across an interesting article on how virtual reality games may improve stroke recovery:

For their study, the researchers randomly divided 59 patients who had recently suffered a stroke into two groups.

With the help of therapists, people in both groups participated in a series of 10 to 12 virtual reality gaming sessions lasting 20 minutes each over three weeks.

One group stood to play the games and the other sat. Games included soccer goaltending and snowboarding and were designed so that people standing needed to shift their weight by leaning and reaching to succeed.

The mobility of participants in both groups improved, but the standing participants saw larger gains.

Now, the study was small - just 59 people - but it does make some sense that standing is better than sitting. Improving mobility is a challenge for many stroke survivors, and this and other studies might make a real difference for many.