Till now, you may have played card games for fun and entertainments, but do you know playing simple card games like snap can help patients with their stroke recovery, a new research claimed.

The Canadian researchers suggest that it improved patients' motor skills. Playing other card games such as  bingo, Jenga, or a games consol like Wii worked equally well.

According to the researchers, the study was designed to test whether virtual reality gaming, that is increasingly being employed as a rehab therapy for stroke patients, is any better than more traditional games for honing upper limb motor skills.

The study includes 141 patients who had recently suffered a stroke, and now had some impaired movement in one or both of their hands and arms. Almost half of the patients were then allocated to the Wii rehab, while the rest were asked to indulge in some recreational activities like playing cards.

Within this, they provide usual stroke rehabilitation care and support on top of the 10, one-hour sessions of gaming or card playing for a fortnight to all the patients.

At the end of the two weeks and four weeks later, both groups  showed significant improvement in their motor skills. Specially,  both groups fared equally well, the study claimed.

"We all like technology and have the tendency to think that new technology is better than old-fashioned strategies, but sometimes that's not the case. In this study, we found that simple recreational activities that can be implemented anywhere may be as effective as technology," investigator Dr Gustavo Saposnik, from St Michael's Hospital in Toronto said.

Alexis Wieroniey of the UK's Stroke Association said that, "Thousands of stroke survivors are left with mobility problems, and this can lead to a devastating loss of independence."

Also Read: Diabetics should get medically assessed before fasting!

Nandini