EMMVIES : Walking Training at Home in VIrtual Reality for Children With Chronic Illnesses Impacting Physical Health

Launched by UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, ANGERS · Jun 13, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The EMMVIES trial is studying a new way to help children with chronic illnesses, such as cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, and obesity, improve their walking and physical activity at home. This program uses a special treadmill designed for kids, which connects to a tablet and virtual reality headset, making exercise fun and engaging. The goal is to see if this home-based program is easy to use, safe, and helpful for improving the children's physical health and overall quality of life.

To participate, children aged 6 to 17 who can walk for at least 5 minutes on a treadmill and understand virtual reality games may be eligible. They should also have been part of a care program for their condition for at least 6 months. Parents or guardians will need to give their permission for their child to join the study. While this trial is not yet recruiting participants, it aims to offer a fresh approach to rehabilitation that could make a real difference in the lives of these children and their families.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Patient aged 6 to 17 years at date of inclusion;
• • Able to walk for 5 minutes on a treadmill with or without body weight support, with or without technical aids;
• • Be able to understand and play virtual reality games (immersive or non-immersive);
• • Be able to answer questionnaires;
• • Patient affiliated to or benefiting from a social security scheme;
• • Informed consent, dated and signed by parents or guardians (if minors), to participate in the study;
• • Included in a care program specific to their chronic condition for at least 6 months;
• * Meet the following criteria depending on the group:
• PC group:
• • Diagnosis of CP
• • Functional level classified II or III according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS)
• • Rehabilitation goal: improvement of gait and/or gross motor function
• OB group:
• • Overweight or obese, defined by a BMI above the IOTF-25 percentile
• • Aim to increase daily physical activity
• • No history of hip pathology
• Group NM:
• • Diagnosis of one of the following neuromuscular pathologies: spinal muscular atrophy type 3, Duchenne disease, congenital myopathy or Charcot Marie Tooth.
• • Functional level of grade 2 to 6 on the Walton scale, or grade 3 to 7 on the Vignos scale
• • Rehabilitation goal: improvement of walking and/or gross motor skills
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Patients weighing over 100 kg (due to the technical constraints of using the AMY mat).
• • For children aged 6 to 11: in connection with the immersive virtual reality device: problems with stereoscopic vision (perception of images in 3 dimensions), unstabilized epilepsy, facial trauma \< 3 months, hearing or visual impairment, pain, dizziness or nausea caused by using immersive virtual reality.
• • Patients who have undergone surgery in the last 3 months;
• • Patients who have received intramuscular botulinum toxin injections in the lower limbs or intensive therapy in the 3 months prior to inclusion;
• • Patient with a non-routine therapeutic program planned within 5 months that could lead to confusion with the tested program;
• • Patient with insufficient understanding of the French language;
• • Patient opposition (child or adolescent);
• • Persons deprived of liberty by judicial or administrative decision;
• • Persons under compulsory psychiatric care;
• • Persons under legal protection;