Abstract
Virtual Reality (VR) provides a unique medium suited to the achievement of several requirements for effective rehabilitation intervention. Specifically, therapy can be provided within a functional, purposeful and motivating context. Many VR applications present opportunities for individuals to participate in experiences, which are engaging and rewarding. In addition to the value of the rehabilitation experience for the user, both therapists and users benefit from the ability to readily grade and document the therapeutic intervention using various systems. In VR, advanced technologies are used to produce simulated, interactive and multi-dimensional environments. Visual interfaces including desktop monitors and head-mounted displays (HMDs), haptic interfaces, and real-time motion tracking devices are used to create environments allowing users to interact with images and virtual objects in real-time through multiple sensory modalities. Opportunities for object manipulation and body movement through virtual space provide frameworks that, in varying degrees, are perceived as comparable to similar opportunities in the real world. This paper reviews current work on motor rehabilitation using virtual environments and virtual reality and where possible, compares outcomes with those achieved in real-world applications.
Highlights
One of the major goals of rehabilitation is to make quantitative and qualitative improvements in daily activities in order to improve the quality of independent living
An exponentially increasing number of distinct Virtual Reality (VR) applications are being developed for intervention and assessment of a broad range of motor rehabilitation needs including upper and lower extremity function, balance and locomotion
The initial VR rehabilitation applications that were developed, in particular applications using video capture technologies and most head-mounted displays (HMDs), were subjected to relatively prohibitive entry level costs associated with the technology, recent developments in technology have made the number of low-cost multisensory VR applications increasingly available
Summary
One of the major goals of rehabilitation is to make quantitative and qualitative improvements in daily activities in order to improve the quality of independent living. Kim et al [23] reported preliminary data from healthy adults using a bicycle linked to a virtual visual environment and suggested that this training system would be beneficial for postural balance control. They described decreases in cycling path deviation and increases in cycling velocity following a short training period and suggested that these variables, in conjunction with additional parameters, may be relevant for determining a training effect on balance rehabilitation. A recent study using the hand system demonstrated transfer of skills acquired with the VR system to a functional clinical outcome measure as well as improvement on a variety of movement parameters with greatest benefit recorded in the least impaired patients [37]. With these exercises (referring to a VR-exercise balance retraining program) he was trying to explain what he was http://www.jneuroengrehab.com/content/1/1/10 doing, he was interested in what he was doing, he was looking forward to going
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