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Issue 6: 8.2024
In This issue:
VRD HealthTech recently launched the "Immersive Tech Talk" Podcast series hosted by Dr. Skip Rizzo! Catch the live replay of the first episode here and listen to special guests Amir Bozorgzadeh and Hossein Jalali, the minds behind the company Virtuleap. Our second episode with Sarah Hill can be found below.
This issue is dedicated to exploring virtual reality for rehabilitation. Dive into how VR and AR are transforming recovery by providing immersive and interactive exposures that significantly enhance both physical and mental healing. From boosting motor skills to alleviating anxiety, immersive tech is proving to be a game-changer in rehabilitation practices. The patient's personal experiences highlight the transformative benefits this tech brings to their recovery journey.
Happy reading!
- The VRD HealthTech team
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Special Announcement:
VRD HealthTech presents the "Immersive Tech Talk" Podcast series hosted by Dr. Skip Rizzo!
Episode 1: Our guests to launch the podcast series will be Amir Bozorgzadeh and Hossein Jalali, Co-Founders of Virtuleap.
Episode 2: Skip Rizzo walks down memory lane with Sarah Hill, CEO of Healium.
Stay tuned on our social media for an update on how to attend episode 3.
Augment Therapy®: Revolutionizing Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation
Augment Therapy is at the forefront of transforming the traditional approach to physical therapy and rehabilitation through the innovative use of augmented reality (AR). The company’s flagship product, ARWell, leverages its proprietary technology, MOCAST®, to provide gamified exercises and wellness activities. These interactive games are designed to cater to all cognitive and physical ability levels, making physical therapy both engaging and accessible to a broader audience.
The Role of AR in Physical Therapy: Enhanced Engagement and Personalization
Augmented reality is revolutionizing physical therapy by significantly boosting patient engagement and motivation. Traditional therapy can often be repetitive, leading to decreased adherence over time. Companies like Augment Therapy and their app ARWell transforms these routines into immersive, interactive experiences, turning patients' bodies into game controllers within augmented reality environments. This makes exercises more enjoyable and motivating, leading to innovative solutions that enhance patient care and rehabilitation outcomes.
ARWell’s full-body skeletal tracking enables precise monitoring of movements, allowing therapists to tailor exercises to each patient's specific needs. This level of personalization ensures that patients perform movements correctly, reducing injury risk and maximizing therapy effectiveness. The adaptability of ARWell allows exercises to be adjusted in real-time based on patient progress, ensuring continuous improvement and optimal therapeutic benefits.
ARWell PRO takes this a step further by enabling clinicians to prescribe immersive exercise programs that are motivating and engaging for patients of all ages and abilities. The app’s technology ensures correct movement performance and collects precise data on each session, providing valuable insights for optimizing patient care. Accessible via tablet or phone, ARWell PRO makes high-quality, innovative exercise programs convenient and available to everyone, setting a new standard in physical therapy and rehabilitation.
In conclusion, Augment Therapy’s ARWell and ARWell PRO are not just changing how exercises are performed but are also setting a new standard for patient engagement and therapy effectiveness in physical rehabilitation. By making therapeutic exercises more accessible, enjoyable, and tailored to individual needs, Augment Therapy is paving the way for a future where physical therapy is both efficient and engaging for all patients.
Check the Research: VR for Physical Therapy
VR and Hemiplegic Treatment
In a recent study, ten stable hemiplegic patients participated in VR therapy sessions three times a week. All exhibited promising outcomes, including decreased spasticity, enhanced functional abilities, and a clear tendency to reintegrate the affected limb into daily activities. Researchers highlighted the potential of immersive VR therapy, suggesting further exploration, particularly for patients at various stages of cerebral palsy.
Gait and Postural Balance with VR
Recent virtual reality (VR) studies reveal critical insights into gait differences in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and their response patterns to stimuli. VR has proven effective in detecting balance deficits in subacute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients, aiding their rehabilitation. In a 12-week study involving 28 PD patients, those receiving VR training showed superior improvements in balance and gait, particularly in the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS3), compared to conventional therapy.
Fall Prevention Physical Therapy and VR
VR games have shown significant promise in fall prevention therapy for the elderly. A meta-analysis of 28 studies with 1,121 participants revealed that VR interventions positively impacted balance and reduced fear of falling, outperforming both no intervention and conventional methods. Another meta-analysis of six studies reported significant improvements in mobility and balance after 3–6 and 8–12 weeks of VR game interventions compared to no intervention.
Stroke Rehabilitation and VR
Integrating VR into stroke rehabilitation enhances patient enjoyment and reduces the perceived difficulty of exercises. Studies highlight the importance of factors like ease of following directions, pain management, achieved scores, novelty, and feedback during VR activities. Augmented reality-based postural control training has shown promise in improving poststroke gait function. A pilot study on chronic stroke patients demonstrated that a virtual walking program using real-world video recordings significantly improved walking balance and spatiotemporal gait parameters, including velocity and cadence, compared to standard treadmill training. These findings suggest the potential value of VR programs in enhancing gait performance for chronic stroke patients.
Madonna Hospitals use virtual reality technology for amputation rehabilitation
While the bright colors of the virtual ocean or sounds of an oversized pinball machine may feel like purely fun and games, for patients at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals, these activities are part of therapy. A specially curated suite of virtual reality (VR) exercises designed with a rehabilitation focus, known as the REAL Series by Penumbra, uses upper and lower body sensors to allow clinicians to track and customize full body movement and progress in real time. Clinicians can use the system to address motor skills, cognition, core and balance, functional tasks and wellness to support patient progression. As research emerges on the benefits of VR in rehabilitation, Madonna has begun incorporating it into physical and occupational therapy care plans. For specific patient populations, like amputation survivors, VR is proving to offer both physical and mental benefits.
“I’ve played on my nephew’s virtual reality headset before, and you don’t ever think about it as a healing tool until you’re here in this moment,” Krystal Bogdahn, an amputation survivor who used VR during her inpatient stay at Madonna, said.
“Phantom limb pain occurs after an amputation, so those nerves are severed when they remove the limb and they continue to fire and they’re looking for a muscle to fire into that no longer exists,” Sarah Siegel, PT, DPT, Madonna’s amputee program leader, said. “It gives the patient the sensation that they’re still having pain in that portion of the limb that is no longer there, which can be very frustrating because the patient knows their limb is not there, but they’re still feeling that sensation or pain.”
The VR headset may be new, but the technique therapists use to help patients understand and reduce this pain has been used at Madonna for years.
“VR is essentially mirror therapy just in a different way,” Hueber said. “With mirror therapy, you put a mirror down the midline of a person’s body, and they look at the reflection of their sound limb. In VR, they can see their virtual limb moving, even if the physical limb is not there. Using mirror therapy or the VR can sort of trick the brain like, ‘Hey, I see this intact limb moving. It’s not painful when I move it.’ It is kind of like reverse psychology on that severed nerve and limb.”
For Krystal, seeing a virtual leg less than a month after her below-the-knee amputation brought several different emotions.
"Michala explained that I was going to see legs, and would this be ok with me?” Krystal said. With sensors on each hand and each knee, Krystal was able to simulate kicking a giant pinball with her feet and swim through the ocean using flippers. The exercise helped to improve her range of motion and strength in her residual limb, which is necessary should she decide to use a prosthetic in the future. Plus, the VR therapy gave her a much-needed mental break from being in a hospital setting.
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Did You Know?
This week, Cambridge researchers may have discovered an incredibly valuable medical innovation suggesting that VR could detect early Alzheimer’s symptoms in patients.
Could Spatial Computing Help Detect Early Alzheimer’s Symptoms?
Research conducted by experts at the University of Cambridge asked volunteers to navigate a spatial/immersive environment, which in turn helps researchers detect impairments in spatial understanding – an early Alzheimer’s warning sign. The research included 100 asymptomatic adults aged 43 to 66. By leveraging HTC VIVE-brand VR technology, the researchers were able to show how navigation abilities are linked to dementia risk based on genetic and environmental factors.
Dr Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at the Alzheimer’s Society, added, "Very early symptoms of dementia can be subtle and difficult to detect, but problems with navigation are thought to be some of the first changes in Alzheimer’s disease. This innovative technology is a long way from becoming a diagnostic test, but it does provide more evidence about the role of navigational abilities as an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease."
Moreover, Professor Dennis Chan also said that “the VR navigation test is based on our knowledge of the spatial properties of cells in the brain’s temporal lobe, and the application of cellular neuroscience to clinical populations helps bridge the gap in understanding how disease at the neuronal level can result in the clinical manifestation of disease.”
Read more on the XR Today website →
ByteDance Offers Employees New VR Therapy Benefits With XRHealth
Employees Have Access to XRHealth’s Physical, Occupational, and Behavioral Therapies From the Comfort of Their Homes or at ByteDance Clinics
XRHealth, the leading healthcare platform in Spatial computing, announced today that ByteDance will offer their employees new VR therapy benefits with XRHealth. The employees will have access to XRHealth’s physical, occupational, and behavioral therapies from the comfort of their homes or at the ByteDance clinics.
XRHealth provides treatments for physical conditions like rehabilitation and physical therapy as well as mental health conditions like anxiety, PTSD, stress relief, and more. Employees at ByteDance will have access to on-demand treatment from their home that is both engaging and immersive. The interactive virtual environment also increases engagement and adherence to treatment programs while giving patients and clinicians access to data insights so treatment outcomes can be evaluated and adjusted.
“[This] is a solution of choice for corporate employees because employees have a higher rate of treatment plan adherence with our solution since it is fun, engaging, and convenient,” says Eran Orr, Chief Executive Officer of XRHealth. “High levels of treatment adherence also means that employees are healthier and happier, making them more productive at work.”
“When I played this yesterday I was in a lot of pain, I found it really hard to move..."
...but I felt much better after using the headset.”
Physiotherapists at St George's Hospital are using virtual reality (VR) to help major trauma patients recover from their injuries.
Trauma patients with rib fractures, serious leg injuries and amputations are using virtual reality headsets during physio sessions to boost their recovery. St George’s Hospital – the major trauma centre for South West London and Surrey – has been offering seriously-injured patients the chance to trial the technology as part of their regular therapy. It includes those who have been assaulted, had a serious fall, or injured in a road accident – like patient Jack Fowler-Thick. The 18-year-old was badly hurt in a motorcycle collision, suffering multiple injuries – and has found the games a vital part of his recovery.
Speaking during a bedside therapy session on the major trauma ward led by trauma physiotherapist Elly Tebbutt, Jack says: “I look forward to this part of the day the best. No one wants to end up in hospital, and this makes me forget that I’m here.”
The headset offers a series of personalized games, such as boxing and archery, and encourages patients like Jack to move through pain – ultimately speeding up recovery. “It really helps,” adds Jack enthusiastically, as he sits on the edge of his chair during a fruit-picking simulation, watched on closely by Elly. “When I played this yesterday I was in a lot of pain, I found it really hard to move, but I felt much better after using the headset.”
AWE Asia 2024, August 26th - 28th
AWE Asia brings together practitioners from the medical, industrial, educational, cultural and entertainment industries to exchange industry trends and explore potential new applications for XR. Hosted in Singapore.
2024 Augmented Enterprise Summit, October 15th-17th
Where enterprises go to innovate with XR. Hosted in Dallas, Texas.
