Every year, about 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke, and approximately two-thirds of these individuals survive and require rehabilitation. Nearly half of older stroke survivors experience moderate to severe disability, but researchers have been examining new therapeutic treatments, including video games.

In 2015, mortality from stroke was the fifth-leading cause of death in the U.S., and stroke was a leading cause of long-term severe disability. In 2013-14, the estimated direct medical cost of stroke was $23.6 billion, and lost productivity and premature mortality cost an additional $16.5 billion, according to the latest figures from the American Heart Association.

While every stroke is different, some type of disability or physical limitation is common. The effects of stroke include difficulty communicating, memory loss, paralysis, difficulty walking, seizures, urinary tract infections, bladder control issues and depression.

The goals of rehabilitation — which starts in the acute-care hospital after the patient's overall condition has been stabilized, often within 24 to 48 hours after the stroke — include helping survivors become as independent as possible and attaining the best possible quality of life.

Although rehabilitation does not cure the effects of stroke, it can substantially help stroke survivors achieve the best possible long-term outcome. For some stroke survivors, rehab will be an ongoing process to maintain and refine skills and may even involve working with specialists for months or years after the stroke — physiotherapy treatments for those who lose mobility and attention training for those with cognitive disorders.

In a recent study, researchers at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) and London Imperial College suggest that video games could be added as a new therapeutic treatment to alleviate the physical disorders or complaints suffered by stroke patients.

According to BCBL expert David Soto, "patients who have sustained brain injuries in attention control areas also suffer motility control problems." In a three-year study, the researchers tested whether influences of attention control are also seen on lower-level motor functions of dexterity and strength by examining relationships between attention control and motor performance in healthy-aged and hemiparetic-stroke patients (n = 93 and 167, respectively).

Mapping with magnetic resonance, the researchers identified the affected part and the type and size of the lesion and analyzed the connectivity between the different areas of the brain. The patients were then given various motor tasks, such as grabbing an object with force, and the researchers found that these tasks were impaired in those patients who had injuries in the brain involving attention.

Playing video games may help stroke patients to improve their attention-deficit disorders and movement control problems. According to Soto, it was previously thought that the control of movement and the attention control aspect were different, unrelated systems and that the treatments for the patients with cognitive injuries were not appropriate for those with mobility problems, but this study proves otherwise.

"We have to know first how our brain controls and moves to design effective therapeutic tools for stroke patients and specific therapies for each individual depending on where the injury has occurred," Soto said.

The next step for the researchers will be to establish a clinical trial with patients suffering motor skills disorders after a stroke.