VR’s role in stroke rehabilitation

Virtual reality isn’t just limited to gaming or education. Did you know that it can also be used for medical rehabilitation? It’s helping stroke victims get movement back in their arms.

A Cochrane review found, with data from 7,188 participants across 190 trials, that VR may slightly improve arm function compared to conventional therapy.

The authors found that adding VR to usual care increases therapy time and leads to better arm movement gains.

Also, VR might improve balance and reduce activity limitations, but evidence on mobility, participation, and quality of life is unclear.

Experiment explained

The types of VR studies range from simple gaming to immersive head-mounted devices.

Most studies use low-cost VR, and there are few on immersive tech, so the effectiveness of immersive VR is still unclear.

The advantages of VR are that it offers an inexpensive, engaging way to increase therapy without clinician supervision.

“Virtual reality can offer a fairly inexpensive and engaging way to increase the amount of therapy without a clinician’s supervision,” explained Professor Kate Laver, lead author from Flinders University in Australia.

That means there is potential to simulate real-life tasks that are unsafe to practice in the real world, like cooking, crossing a busy street, or shopping in a supermarket.

Overcoming obstacles

There has been limited evidence recently on how improvements in movement translate into meaningful gains in everyday life and independence.

“There’s a real opportunity for researchers to go further and develop more sophisticated, function-focused therapies,” said Professor Laver.

Mild dizziness and fatigue were some of the side effects in the Cochrane trials, suggesting that their VR proposals are largely safe to use.

The non-invasive nature of VR makes it a low-risk addition to traditional therapy programs.

The authors claimed that more sophisticated, functionally focused VR therapies need to be developed and rigorously tested to maximize real-world benefits.

As VR technology evolves, integrating immersive and personalized VR tools into rehab protocols could become standard practice.