Background
UE motor function, cerebral palsy
CEREBRAL PALSY
Motor impairment of an upper extremity (UE) is a major deficit in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP). This deficit may further limit children’s participation in daily activities, education and play [Constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) is a prominent neurorehabilitation approach for improving affected UE motor function in children with UCP. The two main features of CIMT are restraint of the less-affected UE and intensive structured training of the affected UE. The restraint of the less-affected UE helps to force the use of the affected UE. The massive and repetitive practice of the affected UE movements with a shaping strategy helps improve motor function and reverse the DD of the affected UE [To facilitate the delivery of CIMT in clinical practice, the restraint type of the less-affected UE and the training protocols have been modified [Virtual reality (VR), which allows intensive repetition of task practice in highly motivational games, has been recently explored as an alternative approach for motor rehabilitation in children with UCP [Combining the advantages of VR intervention and CIMT, a kinect-based CIMT program for children with UCP has been developed. In this program, the VR game was developed based on the principals of CIMT. The preliminary results demonstrated that this program was child-friendly and feasible for improving UE motor function [