Researchers analysed twelve studies that looked at VR-enhanced rehab, and concluded it can offer long-term positive outcomes for patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), especially those with motor skills and cognitive deficits, and those experiencing difficulties with their balance.
One of the benefits of VR rehab is that it can provide a safe environment for people to practice skills with minimal risk of harming. Some VR platforms, the paper states, can model almost any type of environment that may be useful for rehabilitating motor skills including walking, balancing and moving on different types of terrain.
The researchers, from the College of Public Health at the University of Kentucky, US, looked at six studies that examined gait and balance. All six of the studies showed that VR-enhanced rehab made moderate improvements to TBI patients’ gait and balance.
The four studies researchers looked at that around VR’s effect on upper limb functioning was more limited, and drew mixed conclusions. The use of VR to enhance cognitive rehab had the least amount of supporting evidence. The six studies the researchers looked at measuring VR and cognitive rehab found limited evidence.
The researchers state that their review not only provides helpful data, but also shows the gaps in research. They concluded that their findings highlight a need for more research that can inform providers, policymakers and the public to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of VR-enhanced rehab, especially around newer, immersive VR-enhanced rehab.
“VR-enhanced rehabilitation has been utilized for almost two decades, yet data regarding its clinical effectiveness remain limited by multiple lower quality studies,” the paper states.
“This lack of data impacts the generalizability of findings and conclusions about such important factors as physical effectiveness, motivational improvement, and cost-effectiveness that healthcare providers, policymakers, and the affected public are able to draw.”
There needs to be more research in this area as newer VR tools become available in rehab, the researchers urge, to better understand how VR can help neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to learn new things by making new neural connections.
“With the advent of newer generation VR tools utilising 3D visual and auditory stimuli such as mixed reality (MR) and immersive VR platforms, new hypotheses can be tested with the Hebbian theory of neural plasticity concepts at their core,” the study states.
Studies, the researchers say, now need to adapt to include more advanced and improved technology, which will allow new opportunities for clinical rehab.
“For example, in a healthy population, improvement potentials were found in balance and visuo-motor reaction time after MR action game play,” the study states.
There is a ‘dire need’ for future studies to improve the current understanding of the potential for VR-enhanced rehab, the researchers state. This is particularly the case in the US, whose healthcare system underperforms or ranks lowest across multiple health outcomes, including access and cost-efficiency, compared to other developed countries.
“Although we must be cognizant of the potential for initial higher costs associated with the purchase, maintenance, and staff training of some of these VR platforms to be incurred, many VR platforms could actually help provide more cost-effective care,” the paper states.
The researchers argue that more broadly available commercial VR systems could avoid altogether the need for more costly interventions.
