Acute hemodynamic effects of virtual reality based-therapy in patients of cardiovascular rehabilitation: cluster randomized crossover trial.

Abstract

to analyze the acute hemodynamic effects of adding VRBT using exergames for cardiac patients undergoing CR.crossover trial.outpatient rehabilitation center.patients (n=27, 63.4±12.7y, 29.0±4.0kg/m2) with a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors.patients performed one VRBT session and one CR session on two nonconsecutive days. Each session comprised an initial rest, warm-up, conditioning, and recovery. During warm-up, in the VRBT session, games were performed with sensors to reproduce the movements of avatars and in the CR session patients were required to reproduce the movements of the physiotherapists. In the conditioning phase for VRBT, games were also played with motion sensors, dumbbells, and shin guards and the CR session consisted of exercise performed on a treadmill. The intensity of training was prescribed by HR reserve (40-70%).The primary outcomes were heart rate (HR), blood pressure, respiratory rate (RR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and peripheral oxygen saturation, evaluated before, during, and after the VRBT or CR session on two non-consecutive days. The secondary outcome was to evaluate whether the patients achieved the prescribed HRR and the percentage of time they maintained this level during the VRBT session.VRBT produces a physiological similar pattern of acute hemodynamic effects to CR. However, there was greater magnitude of HR, RR, and RPE (p<0.01) during the execution of VRBT and until 5 minutes of recovery, observed at the moments of rest, and the 1st, 3rd, and 5th minutes of recovery.Although the VRBT session produces similar physiological acute hemodynamic effects to CR, greater magnitudes of HR, RR, and RPE were observed during its execution and up to five minutes after the session.