Improvements in motor tasks through the use of smartphone technology for individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Capelini CM, da Silva TD, Tonks J, Watson S, Alvarez MPB, de Menezes LDC, Favero FM, Caromano FA, Massetti T, de Mello Monteiro CB
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2017. 18(13):2209-2217.
The main aim of the study was to verify whether individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) improve their motor performance when undertaking a visual motor task using a smartphone game.
The functional characterization of the sample was determined through Vignos, Egen Klassifikation, and the Motor Function Measure scales.
To complete the task, individuals from both groups, DMD and healthy, moved a virtual ball around a virtual maze and the time in seconds was measured after every attempt in order to analyze improvement of performance after the practice trials. Motor performance (time to finish each maze) was measured in phases of acquisition, short-term retention, and transfer.
Use of the smartphone maze game promoted improvement in performance during acquisition in both groups, which remained in the retention phase. However, the group with DMD demonstrated longer movement time at all stages of learning, compared with the healthy group.

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Keywords: cell phone; motor skills; physical therapy; transfer of learning; virtual reality exposure therapy