When “combined with conventional rehabilitation” it has the potential to improve motor and cognitive performance in neurologic patients alongside “additional benefits” (Maier M et al, 2019). New tests of its efficacy continue to emerge, while technological advancement is blurring the lines between the real and virtually real. Few VR rehabilitation systems can boast as much clinical evidence as that developed by Barcelona tech firm Eodyne in partnership with SPECS-lab, part of the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC).

>​It will affect around one in two stroke survivors, according to the Stroke Association, and roughly at least a third of people with MS. Meanwhile, over 80 per cent of people with Parkinson’s may be affected (Suttrup et al, 2016). Speech and language therapists and other rehab professionals may employ a range of techniques aimed at triggering swallowing reflex and strengthening muscles needed for chewing and swallowing.

“Exercise helps maintain brain connections and counters brain shrinkage from Parkinson's disease as well as from brain aging,” wrote Eric Ahlskog, a neurologist and author of The New Parkinson's Disease Treatment Book. More exercise is also being increasingly linked by researchers to faster stroke recoveries – and lower stroke risk. A systematic review of evidence published in November in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) examined 19 studies of aerobic training programmes for stroke survivors.