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Table 1 List of neurorehabilitation principles with description established by Maier et al. [11, 16]

From: Serious games for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke: a meta-analysis

Neurorehabilitation principle

Description

Fulfilled in studies (%)

All studies

 + 

 = 

Massed practice

Tasks aiming to increase the number of repetitions performed

81

79

85

Dosage

Intensive training: more than a daily session of 60 min on every weekday

52

59

38

Structured practice

Training that includes periods of rest

26

31

15

Task-specific practice

Functional training relevant to ADL

100

100

100

Variable practice

Training that includes different types of tasks

98

97

100

Multisensory stimulation

Training that provides more than two types of sensory feedback

83

90

69

Increasing difficulty

Complexity of tasks changes depending on participants’ ability, performance or time

76

76

80

Explicit feedback

Training that provides information about the patient’s performance at the end of the task

79

93

46*

Implicit feedback

Training that delivers information about the performance in real time such as visualization of movement or other kinematic properties

74

83

54

Avatar representation

Embodied training by representation of a human or body part

38

41

31

Use of the paretic limb

Promoting the use of the paretic limb

76

76

80

  1. All studies, 42 included in meta-analysis
  2.  + , studies with SMD in favour of the experimental group for main outcomes regarding upper limb function
  3.  = , studies with SMD in favour of the control group for main outcomes regarding upper limb function
  4. *Statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) in Fischer’s exact test