Is There a Relation between Brain and Muscle Activity after Virtual Reality Training in Individuals with Stroke? A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objective—The aim was to verify the correlation between cerebral and muscular electrical activity in subjects trained in virtual reality after a stroke. Method—The trial design was a cross-sectional study. Fourteen volunteers who were diagnosed with a stroke participated in the study. The intervention protocol was to perform functional activity with an upper limb using virtual reality. The functional protocol consisted of four one-minute series with a two-minute interval between series in a single session. Results—We observed, at initial rest, a positive correlation between brachii biceps and the frontal canal medial region (F7/F8) (r = 0.59; p = 0.03) and frontal canal lateral region (F3/F4) (r = 0.71; p = 0.006). During the activity, we observed a positive correlation between the anterior deltoid and frontal anterior channel (AF3/AF4) (r = 0.73; p = 0.004). At final rest, we observed a positive correlation between the anterior deltoid and temporal region channel (T7/T8) (r = 0.70; p = 0.005). Conclusions—We conclude that there was no correlation between brain and muscle activity for the biceps brachii muscle in subjects trained with virtual reality. However, there was a positive correlation for the deltoid anterior muscle.