Virtual reality in telerehabilitation is a method used first in the training of musculoskeletal patients using

asynchronous Asynchrony is the state of not being in synchronization. Asynchrony or asynchronous may refer to: Electronics and computing * Asynchrony (computer programming), the occurrence of events independent of the main program flow, and ways to deal with ...

patient data uploading, and an internet video link. Subsequently, therapists using virtual reality-based

telerehabilitation Telerehabilitation (or e-rehabilitation is the delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the internet. Telerehabilitation allows patients to interact with providers remotely and can be used both to assess patients ...

prescribe exercise routines via the web which are then accessed and executed by patients through a

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

. Therapists then monitor the patient's progress via the web and modify the therapy asynchronously without real-time interaction or training.

Background

The computer technology that allows development

three-dimensional Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called ''parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the informal ...

virtual environments consists of both hardware and

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

. The current popular, technical, and scientific interest in virtual environments is inspired, in large part, by the advent and availability of increasingly powerful and affordable visually oriented, interactive, graphical display systems and techniques lacking only sense and sensibility. The term "virtualized reality" (VR) was coined and introduced in a paper by Kanade. The traditional virtual reality world is typically constructed using simplistic, artificially created

computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(CAD) models. VR starts with the real-world scene and virtualizes it. Virtual reality is a practical, affordable technology for the practice of

clinical medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practice ...

, and modern, high-fidelity virtual reality systems have practical applications in areas ranging from

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

to surgical planning and telemedicine. Through VR's capacity to allow the creation and control of dynamic 3-dimensional, ecologically valid stimulus environments within which behavioral response can be recorded and measured, it offers clinical assessment and

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

options not available with traditional methods.

Application

The value of VR systems for the investigation and rehabilitation of cognitive and perceptual impairments and current and potential applications of VR technology address six

neurorehabilitation Neurorehabilitation is a complex medical process which aims to aid recovery from a nervous system injury, and to minimize and/or compensate for any functional alterations resulting from it. Features In case of a serious disability, such as caused ...

issues. Korean researchers developed and assessed the value of a new rehabilitation training system to improve postural balance control by combining virtual reality technology with an unfixed

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

. The system was effective as a training device; in addition, the technology might have a wider applicability to the rehabilitation field. Tracy and Lathan investigated the relationship between motor tasks and participants' spatial abilities by training participants within a VR based simulator and then observing their ability to transfer training from the simulator to the real world. The study demonstrated that subjects with lower spatial abilities achieved significant positive transfer from a simulator based training task to a similar real world robotic operation task. Virtual environments were applied to assess the training of inexperienced powered wheelchair users and demonstrated that the two virtual environments represent a potentially useful means of assessing and training novice powered wheelchair users. A recently completed project at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

has resulted in the development of a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

motion platform which, in conjunction with a virtual reality facility, can be used to address issues of

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

in the built environment. Many cases have applied virtual reality technology to telemedicine and

service development. Because telemedicine focuses principally on transmitting medical information, VR has potential to enhance the practice. State of the art of VR-based telemedicine applications is used in remote or augmented surgery as well as in surgical training, both of which are critically dependent on

eye–hand coordination Eye–hand coordination (also known as hand–eye coordination) is the coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement and the processing of visual input to guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of the hands to ...

. Recently, however, different researchers have tried to use virtual environments in medical visualization and for assessment and rehabilitation in neuropsychology. Case studies for VR applications were conducted that were

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

deliverable and they identified technical, practical, and user challenges of remote VR treatment programs. To improve understanding of deficits in

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

and in left visual-spatial neglect, Trepagnier et al. investigated face gaze behavior in autism and right hemisphere

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, using virtual reality and gaze sensing technology. An at-home stroke telerehabilitation service was developed using virtual reality haptics. Researchers from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

developed a virtual reality-based orthopedic telerehabilitation system. The use of virtual reality technologies in the rehabilitation of patients with

vestibular system The vestibular system, in vertebrates, is a sensory system that creates the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance. Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes ...

disorders and in the provision of remote medical consultation for those patients. He stated that an appropriately designed VR experience could greatly increase the rate of adaptation in these patients.

References

{{reflist, 2 Telerehabilitation Virtual reality

Background

Application

See also

References