Virtual reality-assisted physical therapy may improve technique and adherence
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A combination of auditory and visual cues from a virtual reality avatar could improve outpatient physical therapy movement guidance and technique, according to study results.
Researchers from The Warwick Manufacturing Group at The Institute of Digital Healthcare used motion capture data to compare step movements of healthy participants with either visual-only or auditory-visual assistance. After accelerating and decelerating the step cycles, researchers noted participants’ asynchronies “exhibited slow drift in the visual-only condition, but became stable in the auditory-visual condition.”
In accelerated cycle trials, seven of 76 participants under the visual-only condition missed multiple steps and were removed from further testing, whereas two of 120 participants under the auditory-visual condition missed a comparable number of steps.
According to the study, researchers observed a “clear, corrective response” to the avatar’s movements while using auditory-visual guidance and concluded that “an avatar’s movements can be used to influence a person’s own motion, but should include relevant auditory cues congruent with the movement to ensure a suitable level of entrainment is achieved.”
Researchers noted implementation of a VR interface in outpatient physical therapy programs could result in increased adherence and effectiveness, as low adherence rates are often due to patients’ lack of confidence in movement accuracy and boredom. – by Max Wursta
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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